Germany Poised to Woo U.K. With Transaction Tax Alternative
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Germany is preparing plans for a form of European stamp duty on shares linked to tougher trading rules as an alternative to a financial-transaction tax, as it seeks to win U.K. support for a European Union-wide levy.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and their Free Democratic Party allies are coalescing around an FDP proposal for a Europe-wide tax along the lines of the U.K.’s levy on shares. Such a solution is a “good option” if accompanied by rules that limit “abusive excesses” in automated trading, the Free Democrats said in a paper drafted by former Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle.