BERLIN (Reuters) - German finance minister has drawn up a draft law that envisages introducing a financial transaction tax in 10 European Union countries, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Monday.
The Munich daily said Scholz prepared the draft law at the request of ministers from the other countries, with whom he has been negotiating about introducing the levy.
Under the draft, which Sueddeutsche said it had seen, anyone who buys shares in large companies - valued at over 1 billion euros - would pay a tax of 0.2% of the transaction value.
That means the tax would apply to purchases of shares in more than 500 companies in the 10 countries - Germany, Belgium, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia, the Sueddeutsche reported.
Scholz wrote to the other finance ministers asking them to back the draft law, the paper added. He has previously said the tax should be implemented by 2021.
Plans for an EU financial transaction tax (FTT) have stumbled over the past years. After an initial proposal in 2011 was blocked by member governments, a group of states pressed ahead, while the majority of the 28 EU states backed down.