The European Union has outlined plans to tax member states directly by levying new taxes on air travel and financial transactions. The proposals submitted by the European budget commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski, are an attempt to fund the EU with its own resources. The proposals will need to be ratified by every member state but the UK coalition government has hit out against the controversial proposals as an attack on national sovereignty.
Under his proposals a fixed percentage earmarked for Brussels will be come from aviation or carbon taxes, new levies on financial transaction and VAT.
Lewandowski has expressed concern that UK and other European states will push to freeze or cut budgets to Brussels from 2014 due to austerity measures in most countries. Negotiations on a new deal start next year.