France will go it alone if it can not convince its European partners to quickly impose a new tax on financial transactions, President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Friday. "We won't wait for others to agree to put it in place, we'll do it because we believe in it," he said, branding it unacceptable that "financial transactions be the only transactions that are exempt from all taxation."
The French leader was speaking in Paris after talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Earlier, both Italy and Germany had publicly urged EU members to agree a joint tax rather than impose one unilaterally. "When you buy a flat, in every country in the world you pay a tax. When you go into a supermarket for food, you pay a tax. When you conduct a financial transaction, you pay no tax," Sarkozy continued.
"Who understands this? Who accepts it?" he demanded. "This is why France is campaigning for a financial tax. I'm saying this with the approval of the minister of finance," Sarkozy added, referring to Francois Baroin, who had earlier vowed to impose the tax within the year.
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