Unfortunately no. What they mean by 'day-to-day transactions' are wires, credit card payments and so on...
from the article: "The potential reach of proposed taxes, and the speed at which they could spread, has caught Wall Street off-guard. "To be honest, I thought that cooler heads would prevail. I thought the U.S. government would take care of it before it really became an issue," said Paul Jiganti, who oversees market structure and trade-routing strategies for retail-brokerage giant TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. Mr. Jiganti said TD Ameritrade has been absorbing the costs of transaction taxes adopted by the French government last year, but warned that won't continue. "Coming soon, we will be passing that through in some form or another," he said. He estimated that a typical customer who pays $9.99 to buy 1,000 shares priced around $35 apiece could see that charge rise sevenfold, to around $70 on the trade."
I (and many others) have been talking to brokers, banks, congressional representatives, treasury officials etc. for two years about the dangers of the FTT. They never took it seriously. Now they act surprise when it happens.
Day-to-day financial activities of ordinary citizens and businesses (e.g. insurance contracts, mortgage and business lending, credit card transactions, payment services, deposits, spot currency transactions etc.) are excluded from the FTT, in order to protect the real economy; Does this mean that you can exchange 1:1 EUR for usd when traveling but not for trading with leverage and how about living in the ftt zone but trading Audusd which are both far from ftt's reaching? Free movement of capital. See also: Payment Services Directive_and Single Euro Payments Area Free movement of capital is intended to permit movement of investments such as property purchases and buying of shares between countries.[22] Until the drive towards Economic and Monetary Union the development of the capital provisions had been slow. Post-Maastricht there has been a rapidly developing corpus of ECJ judgements regarding this initially neglected freedom. The free movement of capital is unique in that it is a goal of the EU to pursue a liberal capital regime with third countries. Capital within the EU may be transferred in any amount from one country to another. All intra-EU transfers in euro are considered as domestic payments and bear the corresponding domestic transfer costs.[23] This includes all member States of the EU, even those outside the eurozone providing the transactions are carried out in euro.[24] Credit/debit card charging and ATM withdrawals within the Eurozone are also charged as domestic, however paper-based payment orders, like cheques, have not been standardised so these are still domestic-based. The ECB has also set up a clearing system, TARGET, for large euro transactions.[25]
From the above: "While the U.S. will study the proposal, it doesnât support the European financial transactions tax, according to a U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman who asked to not be named. The tax would harm U.S. investors who bought affected securities, a concern that Treasury officials have raised with their European counterparts, the spokeswoman said."
the dutch fm told a dutch new agency today he was "disappointed" by the FTT Proposal by the EC, especially since there was no exception made for pension funds. he wants to keep trying to change this, but for now with the current proposal the netherlands will stay out of the ftt.
In the commission proposal Forex seems exempted: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/com_2013_71_en.pdf "For the financial instruments which may form the object of a taxable financial transaction, the relevant regulatory framework at EU level provides a clear, comprehensive and accepted set of definitions14. It emerges from the definitions used that spot currency transactions are not taxable financial transactions, while currency derivative contracts are. Derivative contracts relating to commodities are also covered, while physical commodity transactions are not."...........
My comment on WSJ article, based on above quote. How can this work? Buy 1,000 shares for $35 per share with a $10 commission. Get an unexpected email from your broker a day later saying congratulations you traded with a Frenchman and he charged you an extra $60 tax to buy the French government a bottle of champagne paid for by you. Isn't that illegal? If we can place a limit order or a stop order, shouldn't we be able to place a no-Frenchman-FTT order? And, then refuse to pay French FTT or EU 11 FTT taxes after-the-fact? My comment on the 2nd WSJ article tonight. Wrote this one first Robert Green CPA wrote : Why should American investors on Main Street pay taxes to Brussels and the EU 11 on buying and selling their investments on American exchanges? American investors have no idea who is on the other side of the trade and if itâs a Frenchman, why pay a French or EU FTT tax? Wonât U.S. exchanges have to bar EU 11 residents and companies from their exchanges to protect Americans from the EU 11 tax attack? Wonât that cause great disruption to U.S. financial markets? Couldnât that lead to flash crash conditions? Is it protectionism to combat foreign duties or taxes applied on our shores? President Obama told the EU no on their FTT, and I hope and trust he wonât let them bully America into letting the EU 11 tax American investors â teacher and nurse retirement plans, farmers, retirees, savers, and everyday investors. Observation. U.S. has two choices. Either block EU 11 FTT from application in the U.S. or pass FTT and the latter won't happen with this Congress and President. How can the U.S. allow EU 11 FTT to be charged to American investors in a sneak attack manner after-the-fact? Also, without full disclosure of pricing in advance of the trade execution? Plus, farming the U.S. tax base for EU 11 tax collections? It's like illegal duties applied by a foreign government on our shores. The EU 11 is pressing their luck and going too far with extra-territorial reach. Just like with their EU airline emissions tax. I hope China joins the U.S. and leading financial-market centers in saying NO to EU 11 FTT. This must be high up on the list for US vs. EU trade negotiations jump started today. Finally, the U.S. government has engaged and it's time to start winning the battle.