Austria's Kurz: We want a financial transaction tax but reject German proposal

Reuters
Updated ·1 min read

BERLIN, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday that Austria did not oppose an EU financial transaction tax but did not approve of the proposal for one made by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.

"We are in favour of the financial transaction tax as a levy on speculators, as it was originally conceived. What we reject is the current proposal from Finance Minister Scholz," Kurz told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a visit to Berlin.

Under plans drawn up by Scholz and sent to ministers from nine other European Union states, they would levy a financial transaction tax of 0.2% of the transaction value of purchases of shares in large companies.

Merkel said she regretted that Austria could not agree to the financial transaction tax in its current form. (Reporting by Michelle Martin and Joseph Nasr Editing by Francois Murphy)