<
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/feb/29/taxation-worlds-billionaires-super-rich-g20-brazil>
"The G20 group of the world’s most powerful countries is exploring plans for a
global minimum tax on the world’s 3,000 billionaires, aiming to end a “race to
the bottom” that has enabled the super-rich to pay less than the rest of the
population.
Leaders gathering in São Paulo for a key G20 meeting of finance ministers and
central bank governors are preparing to discuss an internationally agreed
backstop on the taxation of hypermobile wealthy individuals, amid increasing
global cooperation to tackle tax avoidance.
Aiming to build on the cooperation that resulted in a 15% global minimum tax on
multinational companies, which came into effect in January, the plan is being
promoted under Brazil’s presidency of the G20 before a summit of world leaders
in Rio de Janeiro in autumn.
Brazil’s finance minister, Fernando Haddad, under the leftwing government of
the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is pushing for the adoption of the
policy. France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, also gave his backing this
week, saying Europe should take it forward.
“Currently the richest people can avoid paying the same level of tax as other
people who are less rich. We want to avoid such tax optimisation,” Le Maire
told
Reuters news agency before the meeting.
“We want Europe to take this idea of minimum taxation of individuals forward as
quickly as possible, and France will be at the forefront.”
The economist Gabriel Zucman has been invited by the Brazilian government to
kickstart the G20 talks on Thursday.
The EU Tax Observatory, a Paris-based thinktank led by Zucman, set out a
mechanism for a global wealth tax in a report last year. It called for a 2%
annual levy on the wealth of the world’s richest individuals as the starting
point for a global minimum tax.
It estimates the measure could raise $250bn (£197bn) a year from the 2,756
known billionaires, who together are believed to be worth $13tn. The idea is
based on the 2021 agreement between 140 countries to impose a global minimum
tax rate of 15% on the biggest multinational companies."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
