The Brazilian government has proposed a tax on the super-rich to finance projects of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, an initiative of the Brazilian president presented this Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro by the G20.
Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said countries need a significant increase in resources to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), for which they have committed to ending hunger by 2030, and to find innovative sources to finance these projects.
“Another way to mobilize resources to fight hunger and poverty is to make the super-rich pay their fair share of taxes. Around the world, the super-rich use a number of tricks to evade the tax system. To avoid the pyramid scheme, systems should be regressive, not progressive,” the minister stressed in his speech at the G20.
The founding documents of the Alliance, an initiative proposed by Lula da Silva and open to all countries, were approved today by acclamation at a ministerial meeting of the forum that brings together the world’s largest economies, so that from now on any country interested in participating can join.
The Alliance will officially launch with its founding members and their various projects at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November, when Brazil’s current interim presidency of the forum ends.
According to its creators, the idea is that each country draws up its own plan and sets its own goals for combating hunger and poverty, and the Alliance helps it achieve them, both financially and in terms of experience and technology.
As for the possibility of introducing a tax on the super-rich, this discussion will take place on Thursday, also in Rio de Janeiro, during a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank presidents.
In an interview with Lusa, economist Quentin Parrinello, one of the authors of the report to be presented on Thursday by the head of finance and central banking at the G20 summit, said taxing the super-rich was a question of “the survival of democracy.”
The policy director of the European Union’s Tax Observatory said the proposal was not only about “raising revenue but also a way to restore trust with governments.”
“We must clearly demand that we be able to create a tax system in which those who are best able to pay taxes pay the same as the rest of the population,” the French economist emphasizes, referring to the current system.
Brazil, which holds the presidency of the Group of 20 major economies (G-20) until the end of November, commissioned the report and hopes to get the widest possible endorsement at the group’s summit of finance ministers and central bank presidents, which is taking place from Thursday to Friday in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
The report’s findings suggest that a 2% minimum tax on billionaires would be the most appropriate option to restore tax progressivity worldwide and raise more than $250 billion (€230.9 billion at current exchange rates) per year.
According to the European Union Tax Observatory, there are fewer than 3,000 billionaires in the world.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.