Brazil, Germany, Spain and South Africa sign motion for fairer tax system to deliver £250bn a year extra to fight poverty and climate crisis
The world’s 3,000 billionaires should pay a minimum 2% tax on their fast-growing wealth to raise £250bn a year for the global fight against poverty, inequality and global heating, ministers from four leading economies have suggested.
In a sign of growing international support for a levy on the super-rich, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Spain say a 2% tax would reduce inequality and raise much-needed public funds after the economic shocks of the pandemic, the climate crisis and military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.
They are calling for more countries to join their campaign, saying the annual sum raised would be enough to cover the estimated cost of damage caused by all of last year’s extreme weather events.
“It is time that the international community gets serious about tackling inequality and financing global public goods,” the ministers say in a Guardian comment piece.
Until we get politicians who will spend it properly and actually help the people there’s no point. We collect enough taxes now to have everything we need but they squander it on bullshit. Let’s get better representation then raise taxes. 30 trillion in debt is shameful
the raw number of debt is nothing to build a conclusion on. you always have to see it relative to other values like the GDP of the US, which was 27.3 trillion in 2023 Statista. that’s an okay ratio.