Financial levy is payback time: EU tax chief

(RIGA) - Controversial plans for a European Union financial transactions levy are justified in view of help from governments for banks, the bloc's tax chief Algirdas Semeta said on Monday.

Speaking during a visit to member state Latvia, Semeta said it was crucial for the EU's 27 member states to keep the issue firmly on the agenda.

"We have to take into account the support which our governments provided to the financial sector via bailouts and it's time for the financial sector to repay at least part of the amounts back to our governments," Semeta told journalists.

The European Commission -- the bloc's executive body, of which Semeta is a member -- sees potential revenues of 55 billion euros per year from a 0.1-percent tax on share dealings and 0.01 percent on derivatives and other products.

The aim is to share the funds thus generated between the EU's central structures and its member states.

EU decisions on tax need unanimity.

The European Commission wants the levy introduced by 2014 and France is pushing for 2012.

But Britain remains solidly against.

With 80 percent of Europe's financial services industry housed in the square mile that makes up the City of London, the government there has previously expressed fears of encouraging capital flight to Switzerland and rival global trading centres.

Semeta also said the introduction of a common EU rulebook for calculating corporate tax rates would allow small and medium-sized businesses to "significantly reduce administrative burdens" and identified fighting against tax havens as a top priority for the next 12 months.