Spain wants Tobin tax limited to company shares

The council of European financial and economy ministers (Ecofin) is due on Tuesday to discuss the introduction of a tax on financial transactions in the European Union, an idea that, in principle, has the backing of Spain, albeit in a limited form.

The idea of a so-called Tobin tax (named after US economist James Tobin) gathered force in the wake of the global financial crisis that broke in 2008, but since then little progress has been made to introduce it within the EU. Only Britain, France and Italy have introduced it unilaterally on some financial transactions. The problem rests in the definition of what constitutes financial transactions, a concept that could be applied to the purchase of shares, bonds, commodity futures and other forms of derivatives.

In 2012, the European Commission proposed a levy of 0.1 percent on transactions in bonds and common shares and 0.01 percent for derivatives, but a group of leading EU member countries opposed this.

Government sources say Spain is in favor of such a levy, but one that is limited to the purchase of shares in companies with high market capitalization, something that France has already introduced. In the case of Italy, the tax applies to the shares of all companies.

Spain is opposed to the application of the levy to other financial transactions because it fears this could have an impact on the situation of Spanish public debt. The conservative Popular Party administration believes the impact of the tax should be neutral and that there should be a consensus among EU member countries on its application.