Britain and France asked world leaders on Friday to impose a tax on bankers? bonuses and consider a so-called Tobin tax on financial transactions, as they sought to dispel recent Anglo-French tensions.

Europe urged the IMF to introduce a ?social? tax on banks, insurers and markets to repay taxpayers? support during lean years with a slice of boom-time profits. Leaders of the European Union backed a fresh call by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, supported by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to examine a global so-called ?Tobin? tax.

In a joint call as they headed for an EU summit, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed the ?urgent need? for a new deal between banks and society. ?We propose a long term global compact that will encapsulate both the responsibilities of the banking system and the risk they pose to the economy as a whole,? they wrote in the Wall Street Journal newspaper.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed it was a good idea to slap higher taxes on performance pay, especially considering they are back on the rise soon after last year?s financial meltdown that led to taxpayer-funded bailouts in some cases. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also embraced the idea.

Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the group of nations using the euro, also said most EU nations were in favor of some kind of tax limit for bank bonuses.

?The debate in the international community will move forward,? said Brown after talks with Sarkozy and a joint editorial in the Wall Street Journal, where they said that ?a one-off tax in relation to bonuses should be considered a priority.?

Brown said the move was bound to find takers around the world. ?I think we are going to reach a satisfactory conclusion in a few months about how we can ensure that banks never again put us in the position where society has to pay such a big price,? he said after meeting with Sarkozy.

Brown?s government on Wednesday said it would impose a one-time 50% tax on 2009 bonuses above ?25,000 ($40,800), and Brown said Sarkozy made a similar commitment.

The French and British leaders met in Brussels ahead of an EU summit Thursday and ?are completely aligned,? said a British diplomat, who demanded anonymity because the talks were private. Brown also wrote a letter to his 26 fellow EU leaders, urging them to take quick action on climbing bank bonuses.

?Again now, banks have made very large profits, and some of their employees have received bonuses equal to many multiples of average earnings,? he wrote.

?While the benefits of success are reaped by the few, the costs of failure are borne by the many. We must therefore act,? he wrote. Merkel threw the weight of the EU?s economic powerhouse behind the idea. She described Britain?s tax as an ?attractive idea? that might encourage some lessons to be learned in London?s financial district.

?We want banks and their businesses to pay a share, that the burdens of the crises could be shared and not loaded on to taxpayers alone,? she said at a meeting of European center-right leaders in Bonn, Germany.

Last month France?s government issued new rules to all banks operating in France – foreign banks included – that limited bonuses. The rules will force banks to spread out compensation over several years to ensure pay reflects long-term performance and doesn?t reward risky decisions that soon turn bad. At least half of the bonus will be withheld, to be paid over three years depending on performance. The bonus amounts and how they are distributed must be published each year.