G20 countries have pledged to work together to tax the super-rich more in the name of fighting inequality, but have failed to agree on a "world tax".
That topic was one of the main topics at the two-day meeting of finance ministers of the group in Rio de Janeiro, which is formed by the 19 largest world economies, the European Union and the African Union.
The meeting that ended yesterday was supposed to prepare the G20 summit of heads of state and government scheduled for November 18 and 19, also in Rio.
The idea promoted by Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the left-wing president of Brazil, the country holding the G20 presidency this year, of creating a minimum tax for the richest, was not accepted by consensus, but a compromise was reached to encourage all members to tax more.
"With full respect for fiscal sovereignty, we strive to cooperate in such a way that the richest people are effectively taxed," Lula da Silva said in a declaration on "international fiscal cooperation" issued at the end of the work.
The text emphasizes that inequalities in wealth and income threaten economic growth and social cohesion and increase socially vulnerable groups, and that the members advocate for an efficient, fair and progressive fiscal policy.
In addition to Brazil, the austerity of the super rich is supported by France, South Africa, Spain and the African Union.
The US has rejected international negotiations on the subject: although they support the idea that the richest should pay their fair share, they consider that tax issues are a matter for each country for itself.
However, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Adad expressed his satisfaction with the achieved result.
"From a moral point of view, the important thing is that the twenty richest countries consider that we have a problem, which is that we have a progressive fiscal policy applied to the poor and not to the rich," he said at the final press conference.
The Director General of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who attended the meetings in Rio, Kristalina Georgieva, welcomed the position of the G20 in support of "fiscal justice" and assessed that the decision to cooperate in taxing the richest is welcome.
Author of a report on the subject at the request of Brazil, French economist Gabriel Zikman welcomed the fact that, for the first time in history, the G20 countries agreed that the way the super-rich are taxed should be changed.
The declaration published yesterday talks about the exchange of good practices and concepts of the mechanism of combating tax evasion, in order to initiate international cooperation in this matter.
"Now is the time to move on," said American Nobel Prize winner for economics Joseph Stiglitz and called on the heads of state and government to approve the introduction of minimum coordinated norms on this issue by November.
The non-governmental organization Greenpeace, which assessed the consensus reached on Friday as historic, considers it an important stage for the G20, which for the first time recognizes the need to tax the super rich.
While the G20 has been blocked by divisions between Western countries and Russia, also a member of the group, since the start of the war in Ukraine, but also over Israel's offensive in Gaza, drafting a joint statement has remained a major challenge.
Brazil got around that hurdle by issuing three different texts, a statement on taxes, a slightly broader final statement, and a document released separately by the Brazilian presidency.
In the last document signed only by the chairman of the Brazil Group, it is written that some countries have expressed their views on Russia and Ukraine and the situation in Gaza.
Some G20 members also welcomed the "consensus" around Lula's launch of a global alliance to fight hunger and poverty, and insisted that it also join the fight against climate change and environmental crises.
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