mr president the european union has wanted to fund itself with a european tax for some time now
it seems its preference would be for a financial transaction tax
it is estimated that this would generate eur two hundred billion per annum
i strongly oppose a new tax levied by the european union fundamentally because this would allow the european commission to decide on the size and composition of the eu budget without any say on the part of the member states and their citizens
worse it would deprive the member states of the possibility of calling the eu bureaucracy to account
if it is introduced at national level to control risk in the financial services industry the costs will inevitably be passed on to the tax payer
while there is a feeling that the financial services and banking sector should meet the bill for the crisis we should not cheat our citizens by imposing on them an additional fiscal burden
