Europe's Bad Tax Brainstorm
By Dan Waters (Opinion)
Published January 30 2012 Wall Street Journal
Financial transactions taxes (FTT) are a bad idea that just won't die. These schemes purport to punish financial institutions for bad behavior in the financial crisis, or to tax these institutions, for the sake of "fairness," for the costs of government bailouts. But in fact, these taxes punish savers, pensioners and long-term investors—none of whom directly contributed to the banking crisis. At the same time, FTTs slow economic growth, drive away financial activity and make markets less efficient.
