London, November 07:British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Saturday resurrected the idea of the international community imposing a global tax on banks as a repayment for the billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money they have received from governments.
The idea is said to mimic the so-called “Tobin tax” – a 0.1 percent tax on all international currency transactions proposed by the economist James Tobin in the 1970s in order to fund global development.
In an address to the Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers meeting in St Andrews, Scotland, Brown said: “There have been proposals for an insurance fee to reflect systemic risk or a resolution fund or contingent capital arrangements or a global transactions levy.”
“Britain will not move unless others move with us.”
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is among those attending the meeting.
When originally proposed, the Tobin Tax was strongly opposed by the US and Britain.
–Agencies