The European Commission has made a pig’s ear of its proposed financial transaction tax. But it is not too late to salvage something from the mess and reform taxation in a way that makes the financial system safer and more efficient.

The latest blow to the commission’s plans came from the European Council’s legal service. The FTT will apply to only 11 of the EU’s 28 member states. The remaining 17, including the UK, decided they did not want to introduce the tax. But the law was drafted in such a way that it still caught some transactions in countries that opted out. The lawyers condemned the FTT’s extraterritorial reach.

But this is not the FTT’s only defect. The tax was partly justified as a way of discouraging banks from engaging in risky activities. But it misses this target because the source of Europe’s financial crisis was banks not financial markets. Indeed, Europe would have a healthier financial system if, like the US, it was less “bankcentric” and more capital market-friendly. Sadly, because of a long-held prejudice, the commission came up with a levy that would gum up markets but not tax banks at all.