IMF proposes global bank tax plans

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123931§ionid=3510213


The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has proposed new taxes on financial institutions to cover the costs of future potential bailouts, leaked documents show.

According to the IMF proposals circulated to the Group of 20 advanced and developing countries on Tuesday, the measures would see all institutions pay a bank levy as well as a further tax on profits and pay.

The IMF further explained that unrecovered costs of bank rescues in the most affected G20 states represent 4 to 5 percent of their GDP.

G20 finance ministers this weekend are to discuss the proposals that were meant to be kept confidential, but were leaked to the BBC.

Different governments have already offered several proposals aimed at covering the costs of future economic rescue packages.

British Finance Minister Alistair Darling welcomed the contents of the leaked IMF proposals on Tuesday.

"The recognition that banks should make a contribution to the society in which they operate is right," Darling said.

Meanwhile, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said it had expected a tax or a levy.

“It appears it might be both. We must wait to see what is actually being proposed and how it will be calculated, but at first sight it appears wider than expected,” Angela Knight, the BBA chief executive, stated.