IMF proposes global bank tax plans: report

European officials on Wednesday welcomed IMF proposals for two new global taxes on banks to cover the cost of future bailouts after hundreds of billions were spent to stabilise them.The measures would see lenders and other financial institutions pay a levy as well as a further tax on profits and pay, which would aim to protect against a repeat financial meltdown, the BBC reported, citing a leaked IMF report.

The BBC reported that the IMF has proposed two global taxes on banks and financial institutions to cover the cost of future bailouts. Finance ministers are to discuss the proposals this weekend.

By Simon Johnson The debate over megabanks and – in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis – how to deal with all the problems associated with “too big to fail” in the financial sector has not been easy for many politicians.  The problems and potential real solutions do not map readily into the standard left vs. right divide in American politics.

AP - The International Monetary Fund is recommending that banks and other financial institutions pay fees to cover the cost of any future government bailouts.

WASHINGTON: Governments around the world charge prices for energy that do not account for its harmful environmental, health and other side effects, amounting to a $5.3 trillion "post-tax" subsidy this year, the International Monetary Fund said in a report on Monday. The IMF said China in particular failed to charge its more than 1 billion consumers for the pollution that comes from heavy use of fossil fuels, adding up to a $2.3 trillion subsidy this year.

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

In the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday morning, Charles Calomiris, a leading banking expert, published an op ed entitled “In the World of Banks, Bigger can be Better.”  It begins,