Financial sector must be taxed intelligently

Austria is also discussing the introduction of a new bank tax. The daily Die Presse agrees banks should do their bit, but stresses that intelligent tax models are needed for such a scheme to work: "Since Messers Obama, Brown and Sarkozy got all hot in the collar over their banks' audaciously speculative dealings, talk has once more come round to bank taxation. ... Certainly, the banks should also pull their weight in overcoming the crisis. The roughly nine percent interest to be paid on capital borrowed from the state is definitely not enough. The banks must somehow also be made to deliver 'liability premiums' in exchange for the state's protection. The three large Austrian banks all have total assets exceeding half the GDP, meaning they would have to be bailed out in an emergency. If that's the case, then it should be with taxation models that push the sector in a sound direction and not with capital-based taxes that are ultimately paid by the customers."

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