International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn lent his backing Saturday to a controversial global bank tax and suggested countries opposing the idea might not have learned the lessons of the 2008 financial crisis, according to dpa. Strauss-Kahn noted that critics of the bank tax were those nations whose banks survived the financial crisis without the need for government bail-outs. "Maybe it's a bit short-sighted," he said. The IMF managing director noted that, had western governments been asked ahead of the 2008 financial meltdown whether their banks were healthy, "maybe they would say yes." The idea of a flat global tax on banks divided finance ministers and central bank heads from the Group of 20 (G20), a bloc of leading industrial and developing nations that met Friday. The IMF's steering committee also met Saturday with no agreement. The United States and Western Europe have pushed hard for a levy on financial firms to protect taxpayers from footing the bill for government bail-outs of the sector in future. But developing countries like India and industrial nations with healthier financial sectors, like Canada and Japan, have opposed the idea. The IMF in a staff paper earlier this week backed the bank levy, even suggesting two separate taxes: One a flat tax on banks and another on the profits of financial institutions. The G20 ministers asked the IMF to take a more comprehensive look in the coming months. Strauss-Kahn noted that different countries might have different ideas for reforming the regulation of their financial sectors, and said a bank tax would not have to be applied in the same manner across all countries. But he added: "I'm not sure that ... this kind of instrument shouldn't be applied everywhere."
