G20 Radio Bulletin 109 - G20 Social advocates for taxation of super-rich and climate funding
G20 Social organizations delivered a document to G20 Brasil containing 11 recommendations for tax governance, highlighting the taxation of the super-rich. Brasil’s Minister of Finance, Fernando Hadad, advocated for an international taxation mechanism and stated that the resulting resources could be used to combat climate change globally. Listen to the report to learn more.
Reporter: Civil society organizations that are part of the G20 Social delivered a document containing eleven recommendations concerning tax and international governance to the Forum’s Finance Track. The letter points out the urgent need for fiscal policies to follow human rights and climate crisis guidelines. Another item underscores the need to direct the proceedings from the taxation of the super-rich and international cooperation to climate funding.
Economist Nathalie Beghin, from the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos), delivered the document to the G20 Brasil during the closing session of an International Taxation Symposium in Brasilia. She was directly involved in elaborating the recommendations and celebrated the initiative of the Brazilian Presidency to increase civil participation in the dialogs of the world cooperation forum.
Nathalie Beghin: Building interactive spaces to channel demands and formulate proposals is extremely important. It ensures accountability and social participation in international cooperation on fiscal policy.
Reporter: Brasil’s Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, received the document and highlighted the importance of the proposals of the forum’s presidency to stir discussions about structural changes in international taxation. Haddad stated that the inequalities perceived in Brasil reveal much of what goes on in the world and argued that this enables the country to act as a laboratory for what needs to be changed.
Fernando Haddad: Brasil offers a sort of pillar 3 of the OCED (Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development). We are advancing towards what can effectively organize our institutions for the benefit of a global alternative for our challenges, which are not exclusive to the nations but affect the totality of humankind. I am touched to see how this proposal has gained so much weight in such a short time.
Reporter: Minister Fernando Haddad underscored Brasil’s dedication to finding solutions through international cooperation for the taxation of the super-rich, especially in the face of wealth concentration and the climate threat.
Fernando Haddad: We can not overcome our difficulties and challenges through the ancient institutions established up to now. We must rethink these institutions. We must rethink multilateral agencies. We must rethink multilateral banks. We must rethink international relations.
Reporter: French economist Gabriel Zucman defends implementing a minimum 2% tax on the wealth of billionaires as an essential measure to face global inequalities. He participated in the Symposium in Brasilia. In an exclusive conversation with G20 reporter Mara Karina, Zucman advocated for the fair taxation of the super-rich as a crucial step towards a globalization model that benefits everyone, including the billionaires themselves.
Gabriel Zucman: The proposal entails creating a new international standard based on the principle that, in every country, billionaires must pay at least 2% of their wealth in taxes every year. Some already do so, but most of them pay much less than that, sometimes zero. You can not continue to pay zero. This is unacceptable.
Reporter: Zucman recently informed that taxing the super-rich would affect about 3,000 individuals worldwide, including around 100 in Latin America. In return, the tax can potentially raise approximately USD 250 billion per year.