Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner voiced disapproval with a proposal from U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a tax on financial transactions. Geithner said he would not support the tax but appeared to soften his stance later, saying the International Monetary Fund would be responsible for coming up with possibilities. "We want to make sure that we don't put the taxpayer in a position of having to absorb the costs of a crisis in the future," Geithner said. "I'm sure the IMF will come up with some proposals."
The Russian finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, also said he was skeptical of such a tax. Similar fees had been proposed by Germany and France but rejected by Mr. Brown’s government in the past as too difficult to manage. But Mr. Brown is now suggesting “an insurance fee to reflect systemic risk or a resolution fund or contingent capital arrangements or a global financial transaction levy.”
Supporters of a tax had argued that it would reduce the volatility of markets; opponents said it would be too complex to enact across borders and could create huge imbalances. Mr. Brown said any such tax would have to be applied universally.
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