EU’s Transactions Levy a Back Door Tax on London, U.K. Firms Say

The European Union is attempting to tax London’s financial firms through the “back door” with its transactions levy and should be stopped by the U.K. government, according to British banks and fund managers.

The EU proposes to tax stock and bond trades at 0.1 percent for any transactions involving 11 nations, including France and Germany, under plans announced by EU Tax Commissioner Algirdas Semeta in Brussels yesterday. To escape the tax entirely, firms in other nations would have to cease financial-services business with the 11 countries involved.