The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee approved a resolution which proposes a better design for the financial transaction tax in order to capture more traders and to make evading it unprofitable. The text also says that if it is not possible to establish the tax EU wide at the outset, enhanced cooperation should be envisaged.

MEPs at the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in the European Parliament adopted a resolution which asks for a better designed financial transaction tax to capture more traders and to make evading it unprofitable. Since almost two years, MEPs have been calling for a financial transaction tax (FTT). For instance, in March 2011, they adopted another resolution for the introduction of a tax on financial transactions. The European Commission tabled a legislative proposal for one late in 2011.

The resolution adds to the Commission proposal an "issuance principle" whereby financial institutions located outside the FTT zone would also be obliged to pay the FTT if they traded securities originally issued within this zone. In addition, the "residence principle" proposed by the Commission is also kept, which would mean that shares issued outside of the FTT zone but traded by at least one institution established within the zone would be caught.

On the other hand, the resolution also includes exemptions. The most substantive exemption was that granted to pension funds, which would see the tax waived on their transactions. The resolution also raises the stakes to make evading the FTT potentially far more expensive than paying it. The text links payment of the FTT to the acquisition of legal ownership rights. This means that if the buyer of a security did not pay the FTT, he or she would not be legally certain of owning that security and would hence be unable to clear the trade centrally.