Brown red-faced after tax plan snub

Nov 7 2009

Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered an embarrassing rebuff when he floated the prospect of a new tax worldwide, only to have it flatly and publicly rejected by the United States and other major financial players.

Mr Brown raised the possibility of a worldwide levy on financial transactions in a speech to the world's most powerful finance ministers

The so-called "Tobin Tax", named after the US economist who invented it, would apply in international financial transactions, but would not apply at the retail level of holidaymakers buying foreign currency.