The issue of a so-called Robin Hood tax has divided Angus councillors.
At the final full meeting of the authority in Forfar, Arbroath councillor Sheena Welsh sought support for a motion calling for the council’s chief executive to write to the UK government asking the Chancellor to investigate the possibility of a Financial Transaction Tax being introduced.
Arguments over the proposal have already reached Europe, and while Mrs Welsh said she saw the idea as “social justice at work” her motion was derided by one critic as being beyond the remit of the council.
The Robin Hood tax would aim to discourage risk-taking by taxing transactions of shares, currencies and bonds.
Mrs Welsh told the meeting: “This is not a tax that takes money from people who have earned it by endeavour, hard work or clever entrepreneurial skills, income that people deserve and to which they have a right. It is a tiny tax of 0.05% which could raise £20 billion a year in the UK alone.
“It introduces a micro-tax on short-term casino-style trading which employs a small number of highly-paid bankers in London and will not touch the tens of thousands employed in high street financial services,” she added.
“The Robin Hood tax is social justice at work. The banks can afford it and the systems are in place to collect it.”
Councillor Ewan Smith said: “Councillor Welsh has come away with some headline-grabbing figures, but I think this is an absolute waste of time.
“I don’t think we have got a remit to take this forward, there are major concerns about the legal validity and I can’t understand why this has been brought forward.”
Councillor Ronnie Proctor said: “I think we should really consider all the facts before we back this and for me the statement is not detailed enough to support this motion.”
Although the motion was carried, several councillors recorded their dissent.
Mrs Welsh said: “This was a golden opportunity to ensure that the super-rich bankers would begin to recompense ordinary citizens for the damage that they did to the global economy by their dubious, gambling casino-style practices.
“It was the chance to investigate levying a tax that would not affect ordinary people because it would only be levied on high-level financial deals and is less than the stamp duty presently charged on share transactions and there are very few people who look on that tax as a burdensome imposition.
“Yet the money which would be raised could help build more homes for people in need and could vastly reduce the drastic cuts which local government is going to be faced with in the next few years.”