The prime minister stated this Monday that he was open to discussing a tax on the super-rich, but admitted that neither Portugal nor the G20 are “yet in a position to make a decision” on this matter.
On the sidelines of the G20 summit, in whose work Portugal is participating for the first time as an observer at the invitation of the Brazilian presidency, Luís Montenegro answered questions from the media, in particular about the hypothesis of global taxation on large fortunes .
“It is an issue that is, as it was, on the table, which we address from a conceptual point of view with openness, but, of course, we are not yet in a position to —I believe that neither we nor our partners in this summit— to make a decision”said.
The Prime Minister said that behind the idea of this new tax is “greater solidarity between those who have more resources and those who have fewer resources.”
“And this principle, I believe, is a universal principle of those who care about the dignity of people, of those who care about the effective resolution of the real and concrete problems that many millions of people have in the world, when faced with inaccessibility to the most basic things in their lives,” he said.
The Brazilian Government had already recognized, this Monday, the difficulties in advancing the creation of a global tax for the super-rich at the G20 summit over the objection of some heads of state.
At an event on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva admitted that “some leaders” have objections “to issues linked to the climate agenda, the financial agenda, especially the issue of taxes on the super rich.”
Without consensus among finance ministers, the creation of the tax now depends on a political decision by the heads of state, but it is difficult to reach an agreement in the face of resistance from countries like the United States and Germany.
Among the countries that have already declared their support are France, Spain and South Africa, which will assume the interim presidency of the forum next week, replacing Brazil.
Portugal, for example, has not yet committed to making a decision. “The tax on the super-rich is something that deserves study and consideration, to which we are open,” Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel had told reporters in July after leaving a G20 meeting.
Portugal is open to the idea of a tax on the super-rich but hopes for more defined contours
Even so, the Portuguese minister highlighted, “its contours are not completely defined.”
Argentina has been one of the main obstacles to making a joint declaration a reality. Argentina, in fact, withdrew shortly after the start of the COP29 climate summit in Baku, and also did not sign a ministerial declaration on women’s empowerment at the G20 in October.
According to a study commissioned by Brazil, if the world’s approximately 3,300 billionaires paid the equivalent of 2% of their wealth in taxes, between 200 and 250 billion dollars could be raised annually.
The leaders of the G20 group and the invited countries, including Portugal, will debate this Monday in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro the entry into a global alliance against hunger and reforms in international organizations.
Source: Observadora
