Cameron said France should be free to go it alone and introduce a financial transactions tax if it wished.
Paris and Berlin want an EU-wide tax on financial transactions but Britain is resisting, fearing it will damage the City of London, a global financial centre where much of the tax would be raised.
Cameron's threat to block the tax comes after he angered EU partners last month by vetoing a new EU treaty on greater fiscal integration in the eurozone, aimed at defusing the euro debt crisis. Critics said his move risked leaving Britain isolated from the EU's 26 other members.
"The idea of a new European tax, when you're not going to have that tax put in place in other places, I don't think is sensible and so I will block it," Cameron told the BBC.
"Unless the rest of the world all agreed at the same time that we are all going to have some sort of tax then we are not going to go ahead with it," he said.
EU-wide tax measures need approval from all 27 member states.
EU's plan B
French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed on Friday to push ahead with a new tax on financial transactions, also known as a Tobin tax, even without France's EU partners. A senior French official said on Sunday his country could table a parliamentary bill for a new tax as soon as February.
"If the French themselves want to go ahead with a transaction tax in their own country, then they should be free to do so," Cameron said.
Cameron said a transaction tax that applied only in Europe would cost jobs and tax revenues, drive lots of financial institutions elsewhere and be bad for the whole of Europe.
He suggested other European leaders should copy taxes that Britain has on banks and share transactions.
The EU's executive arm, the European Commission, adopted plans in September for a financial transaction tax under which stock and bond trades would be taxed at the rate of 0.1%, with derivatives taxed at 0.01%.
The Commission says it may push for a tax among a smaller group of members if agreement by all 27 proved impossible, via an 'enhanced cooperation' procedure, which requires a minimum of nine countries to agree.
"There is nothing in the treaty that would limit such a mechanism to the euro area," said Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly, adding: "The final dimension is impossible to foresee at this stage".
The tax will be discussed when Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet today in Berlin and at a meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 30 January.
Eurosceptic temptation
Cameron may see the political benefit of a more assertive approach to Brussels after his decision to veto the new EU treaty won him praise from eurosceptics on the right of his Conservative Party and brought him a boost in the opinion polls.
However, it angered his pro-European junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.
Cameron said it was a "myth" his veto left Britain isolated, saying eurozone members had met without Britain for years. He added that other EU states may eventually reject the pact.
Britain has opened a new battle front with its EU partners by saying members of the new "fiscal compact" should not take decisions on issues affecting the EU's single market for trade.
"Britain's interest is in having a strong single market that's determined at the level of the 27," Cameron said.
He said Britain would be part of agreements it had a national interest in joining, such as the EU single market and NATO, but not of the Schengen passport-free zone or the euro, which it had no national interest in joining.
"We are a lot better off outside the euro, with our own currency and our very low interest rates that we have right now," he said.
Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, is to host a meeting of his liberal allies from around Europe in London on Monday to promote his agenda of re-engagement with the EU after Cameron's treaty veto.
COMMENTS
PWR supports a financial transaction tax – at the same time it would like to see DG Competition addressing costs for buying and selling shares in Euro companies. Cam-moron makes much of the (sh)city of London and its financial prowess. I suppose he would also imagine that it is an “efficient” place. Here is an example of “efficiency” from last week. PWR purchased Euro50k of share in an EU company. The round trip costs (buy shares and sell at a later date) is Euro900 i.e. getting close to 2% of the cost of the transaction – which is fully electronic. This of course ignores the spread (i.e. the disparity between buy price and sell price).
By the way, it ain’t any better in mainland Europe. KBC offers an even more expensive “service” if you could call it that.
So here’s the deal for Cam-moron & the Tory-scum party – why not first clean up the (sh)city and its overpriced activities instead of whining (yes I know you are an expert in this) on about a small transaction tax. Of course the problem with this is that your Tory-scum party is financed (25% I think?) by the (sh)city of London. So I can see why any reform would be delayed – after all, the guys that shaft me on costs are the same guys that fund you and your bunch of morons.
By the way, Cam-moron has on his desk a report that shows that the UK finance sector (it’s not an industry it make nothing) is also highly efficient at shafting pension funds to the point that most of the gains that stocks and shares make are absorbed by Cam-morons mates in the (sh)city.
A way out of the impasse for the Euros is to implement legislation that is extra-EU i.e. covers the Euro-zone countries whilst also putting a tax on all transactions between (sh)city and mainland Europe (this would pull Euro bond business back into mainland Europe). The Euros now need to both talk and act tough, they are not dealing with humans here, were talking morons and Tory-scum – and the only way to negotiate with such is when you have them cornered like the rats they are.
It is hardly surprising that the UK Prime Minister objects to this as all of his Chums in the Stocks Markets are Massive Donors to the Conservative Party.
These Bankers (we do recollect that there are other Terms used here in the EU) are sharks and Gamblers with money and they nearly brought the World Economy down as a result.
These Bankers and VC and Hedge Funders (Plunderers) are nearly all overseas residents living outside of the Uk for their customary 6 months less 1 day, busily sniffing their money away in the Crooked Off-Shore locations in the Caribbean Switzerland Nice Cannes Svaalbad and elsewhere freely without any recourse. One banker we came across boasts that he made his money on Mobile Phones and took his £800 Million overseas but still has a second house in the UK near Bromley so that he can school his children at private schools (at his Compaby's expense) and drives around in a Aston Martin and Range Rover (top of the range) all under company expenses and no UK Tax paid at all.
Another makes it known that he has a villa overlooking Lake Geneva doing his bit to not pay taxes. And you think that this is not so? Why is there a London City Airport then? It isn't for the general public! Hardly it is for the Canary Wharf gamblers.
Importantly though and everyone seems to miss the point: jow much will this Financial Tax raise? Well here is an example. With a proposed rate of 0.05% and let's suggest thar there was a transaction in one month of shares and the likes of €1,000,000,000--00 (or as some might say €2 Billion: the revenue generated on that amound is only $1 Million! So what is all the fuss about?
So if say the combined numbers of transactions in the EU reached €200,000,000,000,000--00 it would raise €100 Million. These are realistic figures and very reasonable.
These Financiers should realise that they are making money as gamblers from the stocks of ordinary companies and they should pay there dues.
We - the public - do not always know how much these Gamblers on the Stock Exchanges make in these transactions. These charges are astounding. No wonder these Gamblers are so wealthy, they are ripping us of l r and c.
It is about time the EU Stock Markets dealt with this and traded in Euros only stocks. That would mean that any transaction organised by the Gamblers in London would have to change their currency first in to Euros and then trade through the exchanges in Germany France etc. I love it - what a good idea!
We have never fot on with these farcical UK Sterling £s.
Still then we would need to place this Financial Tax on board. 0.05% seems so low a value as well.
These transactions bring in £50 billion+ in revenue to the UK economy. The EU is good at self destructing so here is another opportunity to do so. Remember Sweden had a short lived unilateral financial tax, soon abandonded when they realised what it was costing them.
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