G20 leaders are to meet in the southern French resort of Cannes in early November.
"Ahead of the Cannes summit, we will come out with a proposal for a European financial transaction tax and we are committed to explore this further also at the G20 level," Barroso said in a televised address. He said he would discuss the issue with Australia during his visit there next week.
Money from such a tax could also be used to help finance the European Union's long-term budget, Barroso said, adding the Commission would make appropriate proposals in the next months.
EU officials have indicated that the tax will be first introduced EU-wide and will be used as a stepping stone to convince G20 partners to follow suit. A financial tax, the argument goes, would help hinder speculation on the euro zone's sovereign debt and will have limited economic impact if set at a low enough rate.
"We know it will be difficult, we know there needs to be unanimity [among EU member states]," Commissioner Michel Barnier, in charge of the internal market, told members of the press recently.
France and Germany are already working on a joint proposal for such a transaction tax as part of a bilateral drive for closer economic coordination between euro zone states.
European banks have poured scorn on the idea of a financial transaction tax, a long-standing French proposal, saying it would not stabilise markets.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet has said that such a tax would not work unless it is applied globally and Britain, home to the region's biggest financial centre, is also opposed to the EU going it alone.
EurActiv with Reuters
COMMENTS
The FTT is bound to be a very complex and controversial question both within the EU and the G20. It will take ages before any decision is taken then put into effect.
This is why it should dissociated from the issue of EU own ressources.
The same reasoning applies to an eventual EU carbon tax.
The basis for an ideal "new" EU tax already exists : a share of the national product of the AVT. A rate of 1.5% would be sufficient to finance the whole of the EU budget at present level.
All it needs is a revamping of its modalities which have been distorted over the years, notably by the "British rebate".
If necessary, it could easily be adjusted with a simple equalisation system to ensure a just sharing of the tax burden between member states.
In matters of taxation, let's not forget some old maxims (in French):
-"Un bon impôt est un vieil impôt"
-"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien"
- "Pourquoi faire compliqué quand on peut faire simple?"
JGGIRAUD
Transaction tax has been tried before with disastrous results in Sweden in early 90s. The business just moved outside the tax jurisdiction. The same is very likely to happen again if implemented only in the eurozone or in EU as a whole. The financial service business would move maybe to New York or Singapore with a net reduced tax revenue as a consequence, which I guess would be the exact opposite of the intention.
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