Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pedaling smartly back on his proposal for a financial transactions tax or ‘Tobin Tax’ after his surprise presentation, delivered at a Group of 20 finance meeting in Scotland, was met with a chorus of criticism over the weekend.
It is believed that Brown’s handling of the issue provoked renewed dispute with the Treasury. Chancellor Alistair Darling is said to be frustrated by the prime minister’s promotion of a plan he already knew would be publicly shot down by the US.
The American rejection of the proposal – “A day-by-day financial transactions tax is not something we are prepared to support,” said US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (above, with Alistair Darling) – was followed by rejections from Canada, Russia, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.
wish he would leave office for the same reason….
The Chief Kleptocrat has run out of other peoples’ money to spend.