Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- German Finance Minister Hans Eichel is urging the European Union to speed up regulation to collect value- added tax from trade over the Internet, the newspaper Bild Zeitung said, citing the minister in an interview.

``Too much is missed by value-added tax,'' Eichel told the paper. ``The taxation of Internet trade has to be agreed at the European level and then controlled more closely.''

Eichel told the paper he is against introducing any new types of taxation. Asked whether he is considering a tax on cell-phone text messages as Italy has been, he said: ``That's out of the question.''

Eichel is looking for alternatives to close a $10 billion ($13 billion) budget gap and meet the European Union's deficit limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product next year. He plans to sell debt and assets linked to pensions and freeze wages for state employees, he said earlier this month.

(Bild Zeitung 11-15, 2)

For the newspaper's Web site see http://www.bild.de

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Rach in Berlin at crach1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 15, 2004 03:10 EST