NGO lobbies government over Financial Transaction Tax

NGO lobbies government over Financial Transaction Tax
By Agness Changala
Mon 27 June 2011, 03:30 CAT

THE Civil Society Millennium Development Goals campaign in Zambia has written to the government to lobby support for a Financial Transaction Tax at the forthcoming African Union summit. A financial transaction tax (FTT) is a tax placed on a specific type of transaction for a specific purpose.

The Global Action against Poverty (GCAP) which Zambia is party to, is the world’s largest anti-poverty alliance, and is joining other campaigners around the world to call for an FTT that will finance the fight against poverty and climate change.

In a letter to President Rupiah Banda, foreign affairs minister Kabinga Pande and copied to Commission for African Union, African Union and the European Commission in Zambia, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) campaign coordinator Dennis Nyati said his organisation believed that FTTs were a practical way to generate revenue needed to fund public services like education, health and the environment.

Nyati asked the government to ensure that the African Union demonstrated its support for a European-led FTT at the 17th session ordinary summit of the African Union.

He said FTTs would also discourage the type of short-term financial speculation that had little social value but posed high risks to the economy.
Nyati said the time was ripe for Europe to make concrete steps on agreeing on an FTT in 2011.

“Support from other governments around the world and regional organisations such as the African Union is essential to ensure that pioneer countries in Europe show international leadership on the FTT, and that the revenue is spent on global public goods which is additional to existing overseas aid commitments,” he said.

Nyati said FTT would be discussed at the forth-coming AU Summit and hoped that the government joins others in the African continent to send a clear message of support to European leaders.