Ahead of G-20 Summit, U.S. Chamber Leads Opposition to Increasing Global Taxes

‘A G-20 Financial Transaction Tax is the Wrong Instrument at the Wrong Time,’ Business Leaders Communicate to Heads of State

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Ahead of this month’s G-20 summit in Toronto, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce led nearly two dozen business groups today in calling for world leaders to reject suggestions for any G-20-wide taxes and levies, specifically citing their opposition to the proposal to tax financial transactions.

“Both proponents and opponents of a financial transaction tax agree it would raise trading costs and reduce the liquidity that benefits all investors and businesses,” wrote several business groups to world leaders expected to attend the G-20 summit in Canada later this month. The comments came in a letter and were echoed in a statement from chambers of commerce in the G-20 countries. “Imposing such a tax would harm companies at a time when business expansion is most needed to fuel a fragile global economic recovery.”

“Furthermore, if all of the G-20 nations were to impose such a tax, other economies would not, leading to off-shore migration of financial transactions, increased regulatory ‘dead-zones’, and loss of revenues,” the business leaders wrote. “An international financial transaction tax … is not the appropriate regulatory tool for addressing the essential systemic issues of capital and liquidity. It does not prevent new crises,” state the chambers representing millions of businesses across G-20 countries.

“In short, a G-20 financial transaction tax is the wrong instrument at the wrong time,” the business leaders said.

The complete letter is available here:
www.uschamber.com/assets/international/100603_International_Financial_Transaction_Tax.pdf 

The complete statement is available here:
www.uschamber.com/assets/international/100603_C20_Position_Paper_Final.pdf

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

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