The European Court of Justice rejected a legal challenge by Chancellor George Osborne against the proposed financial transaction tax on share and bond deals.The ruling effectively gave the go-ahead to the levy that City experts fear could wipe £3.6billion from British firms and dramatically shrink private pension pots.
Pensions adviser Dr Ros Altmann said: “There is a danger that the imposition of a tax on every transaction will make pensions smaller.“Any tax that takes money away from pensions is a danger to all of us. A tax on transactions will mean higher costs for customers.”
Chris Cummings, chief executive of financial services industry campaign group City UK, branded it a “tax on savings” and a “disincentive” to save. Mr Osborne was seeking to halt plans for the tax proposed by 11 eurozone countries including France and Germany and claimed it would breach EU single market rules.
But the Strasbourg-based court, the EU’s highest, dismissed his challenge as “premature” because the tax had not yet been launched. Express.
