THE Germanythe Spain and the South Africa expressed their support for a plan to impose a global tax on the richest, proposed by Brazil on the occasion of the country taking over its presidency G20while France has already indicated that he agrees.
In a letter published by several media outlets – including Der Spiegel (Germany) and El Pais (Spain) – five ministers from these three countries as well as Brazil assure that this initiative would constitute “important step” in the world battle “against inequalities”.
“The past two decades have been marked by a significant increase in inequality in most countries, with the gap between the incomes of the richest 10% and the poorest 50% almost doubling,” the ministers emphasize.
A situation that “harms economic growth” and it turns out that “erodes democracy”, continues the letter, which is signed among others by the vice president of the Spanish government Maria Jesus Modero, the German Minister of Development Svenia Sulce and the South African Finance Minister Inoch Godogwana.
In their letter, the ministers complain “the persistent gaps” in the international financial system, which allows the richest to significantly reduce their taxation: on average “income tax” paid by billionaires is no more than “0.5%” of their wealth, they explain.
The enactment “coordinated, global, minimum withholding tax on billionaires” it would allow these gaps to be addressed and provide governments with the means “to invest in social goods, such as health, education” or the “environment”they add.
For this reason the ministers declare that they strongly support Brazil’s initiative for a “international, inclusive, fair and efficient fiscal cooperation”. “The time has come for the international community to take seriously the fight against inequalities and the financing of global public goods”they conclude.
Brasilia, which has held the rotating presidency of the G20 since December, has reduced the global taxation of the richest to one of its priorities.
Brazil was inspired by the work of French economist Gabriel Zikman, who suggested that if the world’s 3,000 billionaires paid at least the equivalent of 2% of their wealth in taxes, an additional $250 billion could be raised.
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