Japan Eyes “Solidarity Levies” To Finance Development Assistance
The Japanese government on Sunday launched discussions on the possible introduction of tax systems for currency trading activities and airline ticket purchases to help fund its development assistance programs for poor countries, Foreign Ministry sources said.
By introducing the so-called international solidarity levy (afgift) mechanism, the government is looking to secure funds to help the world achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (2015 Målene), the sources said.
The government plans to officially join the Leading Group on Solidarity Levies to Fund Development, a French-initiated international organization set up in 2006.
Specifically, the government is mulling (spekulerer på) introducing a currency transaction development tax of as low as 0,005 percent on foreign currency trading activities, according to the sources.
It also aims to implement an airline ticket levy with which it can collect taxes from relatively wealthy people. No country has yet put into practice the currency transaction development levy.
Daily transactions in global currency exchange markets totaled 3 trillion dollar in 2007. If a 0,005 percent levy is imposed on the transactions, about 33 billion dollar, or one-third of the current level of global ODA, could be gathered.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
