英语文摘：Austria pushes for financial transactions tax

VIENNA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- At an informal meeting of finance ministers to be held on Sept. 7, Austria will further push the introduction of financial transactions tax in the EU, said the spokesman of Austrian Ministry of Finance Harald Waiglein on Tuesday.

Weiglein also stressed that it is important to plug a European financial transactions tax, which is more feasible and necessary than a national one.

Financial transactions tax is expected to generate additional income for European governments, buckling under the weight of enormous budget deficits. It's seen as a tool to selectively discourage excessive speculation in the financial markets.

However, there are also different opinions existing on this issue. European Commissioner for Taxation Algirdas Semeta said that the transactions tax had "some undesirable effects".

Christian Felber, spokesman of the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens (Attac) in Austria, criticized that the transactions tax was a "rotten trick" . It would be levied only on gains and profit payments of bankers, contributing therefore much less money for the budget, he explained.

According to Felber, the finance transactions tax was not likely to curb speculation, because high-risk and short-term speculation can be blocked only through taxation on transaction.