So now they want to tax spot fx which I believe requires a treaty change due to the free movement of capital...yea..
FRANKFURT (MNI) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Germany would continue pushing for a European financial transaction tax but he was sceptical that it could be implemented quickly, according to an interview released Wednesday with business newspaper Handelsblatt. As a result, the potential tax revenue of E2 billion was not included, "as a precaution," in the 2015 budget plans hammered out by the Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD) in coalition talks earlier this month. "That was important for the internal calculations in the coalition talks," Schaeuble told the paper. "Otherwise the money would have been allocated in the blink of an eye." Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU and the left-leaning SPD last week agreed the outline for a governing coalition between the two major parties. The deal still has to be approved by the SPD party's base before a government is formed. The outline includes a pledge to push for a European financial transaction tax, a key priority for the SPD, which has pledged to be more aggressive in seeking its implementation. The tax has been agreed in principle by 11 European countries but has stalled amid disagreements over the detail.
EU executive document says transaction tax plan legal http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/04/eu-ftt-commission-idUSL5N0JJ3W920131204 Well I suppose they would say that, but it's hard to see that all 11 countries would reject the advice of their own lawyers in favour of the commission's and risk expensive lawsuits. I think the residence principle is dead, and with it, any real protection against capital flight.