In
the evening of Monday 19th November 2001, the French
National Assembly adopted the principal of a Tobin tax
up to a maximum amount of 0.1% on international speculative
financial transactions. This tax will enter into force
after its adoption by the other European parliaments.
It is, thus, a symbolic and political victory that has
been obtained by the French Members of Parliament, in
particular by those in the ATTAC group of the national
assembly. Now the same vote must be replicated in the
other European Parliaments in order for the tax to enter
into force. The French Parliament is the second Parliament
in the world, after our Canadian friends in 1999, to
have voted on the principle of a Tobin tax.
We must now continue to build on this symbolic victory
in the different parliaments in the world. On one hand,
this vote shows that numerous parliamentarians are not
satisfied with the financial globalisation that is imposed
on us. The taxation of financial transactions must be
top of the agenda at the next World Social Forum in
Porto Alegre, which takes place at the end of January
2002 in Brazil ».
For
several years now, members of the ATTAC Group in the
National Assembly have been introducing an amendment
during the vote on the Finance Law seeking the establishment
of a Tobin type tax. Their perseverance has not been
in vain. This victory, even though symbolic for now,
may be the catalyst for the political battle which will
take place in other countries and at the heart of Europe.
The victory will be, without doubt, a persuasive reference
point for future debates in the other European Parliaments.
And as Gérard Fuchs, French Member of Parliament,
recalled during the debate in the Assembly : «
When we first talked about banning child labour, it
was a utopia. When we first talked about not working
on Sundays, it was a utopia. When we first talked about
paid holidays, some of us declared that they would not
pay employees for doing nothing. It is true, to talk
of taxing financial transactions is a utopia. But we
believe that this utopia must become reality. We need
political regulation of financial globalisation (
)
This evening, our aim is to launch an appeal, first
of all to the other European Parliaments, for them to
follow us, and then to our other colleagues in theOECD.
But let us not hide behind the need for the universality
of this proposal before taking it. Lets say to
the other European parliaments « Follow us ! »
and in a few years time, we will be proud of what
we did this evening. »
The text of the amendment adopted is particularly interesting
for the evaluation undertaken by the administrative
services of the National Assembly. Thus, at a rate of
0.1% (maximum hypothesis), taking into account the current
volume of monetary transactions at the Paris stock exchange,
the return would be 50m Euros per day, or 12.5 billion
Euros per year if the volume of transactions remained
the same. Even if the tax was only 0.01%, the return
would still be, despite the foreseen exclusions, 1.25
billion Euros per year for this stock exchange alone
where only 4% of exchange operations in the world are
carried out (according to the Bank of International
Settlements). |