EU Needs Transaction Tax for Refugee Plan, UN Official Says

[branford]

4. The most interesting thing about the article

is that the United Nations official admitted that 50% of the migrants are not actual refugees under international law, but rather are economic migrants.

Such statements are very harmful to many liberal European politicians trying to find common solutions for the "refugees," and will figure prominently in right-wing, anti-migrant, political rhetoric.

Moreover, a transaction tax is already very controversial in the EU, particularly in Britain, no less before their EU referendum, and that was when European politicians wanted to send the money collected back to the individual EU states for domestic purposes. The UN official's suggestion that half of any monies collected go to additional foreign aid, and the other half used for the express purpose of direct financial assistance to unpopular migrants (half of whom are not refugees) is a political non-starter.

In fact, given the extreme controversy surrounding the migrants and the billions (and increasing) already spent on them in Europe, outside United Nations pressure for the EU to raise taxes in this environment is very counterproductive and will likely have the opposite effect, both politically and financially..