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The world’s most powerful governments have stopped short of agreeing on a global tax on billionaires but promised to continue discussing the idea.
At a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, finance ministers from G20 countries agreed on the need to work together on taxing the world’s richest individuals — a priority for Brazil, which holds the rotating G20 presidency.
They will start a “dialogue on fair and progressive taxation, including of ultra-high-net-worth individuals,” according to a draft communiqué seen by POLITICO set to be published on Friday.
“With full respect to tax sovereignty, we will seek to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed,” ministers wrote in a separate declaration on international tax cooperation, also seen by POLITICO.
Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad welcomed what he called an “historic” agreement.
Brazil has previously floated the idea of a global tax on the world’s richest individuals inspired by the corporate taxation overhaul discussed at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The idea, conceived by G20 adviser Gabriel Zucman, would consist of a minimum 2 percent levy on the world’s 3,000 richest billionaires which could unlock approximately $250 billion globally per year.
But that proposal is highly controversial and is facing backlash including from German Finance Minister Christian Lindner and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who in Rio said the U.S. doesn’t “see a need or really think it’s desirable to try to negotiate a global agreement on that.”
In a statement Zucman, who already anticipated that it was too early for G20 countries to agree on his proposal, said he welcomed “a consensus among G20 countries that the way we tax the super-rich must be fixed.”
