Austria: Bank Levy Begins to Wobble

Politics ♦ Published: April 25, 2014; 15:00 ♦ (Vindobona)

Austria´s Minister of Economics Reinhold Mitterlehner proposed to reduce the bank levy. The coalition partner, the social democrats, is surprisingly open to talks.

Austria Banking Sector: Bank Levy to be Abolished? / Picture: © Vindobona.org

After heavy criticism coming from the Austrian banking sector, Mitterlehner admitted that both a bank levy at the European and at the national level is “hard to justify”. Mitterlehner explained that the Austrian government has to deal with that issue. “We have to address the problem. We will not impose bank levies on two levels permanently,” Mitterlehner told the Austrian daily…