The thorny issue of taxing the super-rich on the menu at the G20 in Rio

Faced with growing inequalities on the planet, G20 finance ministers are meeting on Thursday Rio de Janeiro to raise the idea of ​​taxing the super-rich, the subject of sharp disagreements between member states.

Pushed by Brazilian Head of State Lula who this year chairs the group bringing together most of the world's major economies as well as the European Union and the African Union, this question will be on the table at the opportunity for a meeting in the afternoon.

“Certain individuals control more resources than entire countries,” Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva lambasted Wednesday at the launch of a Global Alliance against hunger and poverty. A priority of the Brazilian presidency of the G20, it aims to bring together states and international organizations to eradicate hunger in the world.

According to the left-wing leader, we must tax billionaires because “at the top of the pyramid, tax systems are no longer progressive, but regressive”.

– Washington and Berlin reluctant –

Inequalities have continued to widen in recent years, 'after a study by the NGO Oxfam published Thursday: the richest 1% in the world have earned more than 40,000 billion dollars more in ten years, but their taxation is “historically” low.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the launch of a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, during a G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 24, 2024 © AFP – Pablo PORCIUNCULA

French economist Gabriel Zucman estimates the tax rate for billionaires at 0.3% of their wealth. In a recent report commissioned by Brazil, he proposed creating a 2% tax on the fortunes of some 3,000 billionaires in the world.

All G20 countries do not are, however, not as good. The United States has displayed its opposition to international negotiations on this subject, while the German Ministry of Finance, ahead of the G20, considered the idea of ​​a minimum wealth tax “irrelevant”.< /p>

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In addition to international taxation, this last meeting of the big financiers of the G20 before the summit of heads of state and government on November 18 and 19, also in Rio, must discuss the situation global economy, and Friday financing the climate transition and debt.

While the G20 has been hampered by divisions between Western countries and Russia – also a member of the group – since the start of the war in Ukraine, drafting a joint communiqué remains a challenge. During their last meeting in February in Sao Paulo, the big financiers of the G20 did not succeed.

G20 finance ministers met to discuss the idea of ​​taxation on the super-rich in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 24, 2024 © AFP – Pablo PORCIUNCULA

The solution imagined by Brazil is to arrive at three texts by Friday evening: a specific document on “international cooperation in tax matters”, including the question of taxation of the super-rich, accompanied by a broader final communiqué and finally a “declaration” published separately by the Brazilian presidency which alone would discuss the geopolitical crises.

This model has already started to be applied this week. Brazil's presidency issued a “statement” on Wednesday reporting that some G20 members “shared their perspectives” on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza during discussions on the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.

Certain countries consider that the G20 is a relevant forum for discussing these issues, while others think the opposite.

“It is likely, based on my experience of previous G20s”, that the next meetings at ministerial level will impose separate texts, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, told journalists on Wednesday. Aiming for a single text “would not allow us to adopt anything”, according to her.

Founded in 1999, the G20 brings together most of the world's major economies . His vocation was initially mainly economic but he increasingly took up the burning issues of world news.

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