Patriotic Millionaires Response to G20 Finance Ministers Tax Declaration
Today’s G20 Finance Ministers international tax declaration from this week’s meeting in Rio de Janeiro shows there is consensus on the problem the world faces in the under-taxation of the super rich. This diagnosis is long overdue and is a welcome step forward. But, while the problem has been recognised, there is still a long way to go on the solution. The warm language set out in the agreement must be turned into concrete commitment to global action.
In response to the declaration Phil White, a founding member of Patriotic Millionaires UK and a former business consultant, said: “I am pleased to see the G20 finance ministers’ tax declaration includes the recognition of the problem we face when it comes to the under-taxation of the super rich. Thanks to a maze of special rates, exemptions, and loopholes, billionaires today manage to pay lower tax rates than all other income groups. This economic division, between the super rich and working people, is outrageous and insulting. It’s high time that those with extreme levels of wealth be required to pay their rightful share in taxes - like working people around the world do each year.
But the limited commitment to action from G20 finance ministers leaves a lot of work to be done. Recognising a problem means nothing if there are no real, concrete steps to make reforms a reality. One such step should involve fully supporting the Brazilian G20 Presidency’s proposal to institute a global agreement for a minimum level of tax on the super rich. In 2021,after years of negotiation, 136 countries agreed to implement a minimum tax on multinational corporations. The process to do the same for ultra-wealthy individuals will undoubtedly be just as challenging, but the end goal will be worth it. We look to the Heads of State Summit in November, and with great expectations for South Africa as the next President of the G20, to deliver global action to effectively tax the super rich”
Stephen Prince, Vice-Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and founder of Card Market, Inc., said: “The Patriotic Millionaires are encouraged by the G20 finance ministers’ explicit commitment to cooperate to make sure that wealthy people like us are taxed fairly around the world. Rising economic inequality poses an existential threat to our democratic way of life both here in the US and around the world. To ignore the absurd and obscene growth of wealth in so few hands is to embrace a return to where world economies were several centuries ago, with the vast majority of wealth concentrated in a small global elite. It is promising that G20 finance ministers understand this reality, and are also committed to working together to reform their respective tax codes to put a check on extreme, democracy-destabilising wealth.
But this is just the beginning, as cooperation is not coordination. Now, the G20 must maintain their momentum and translate this international tax cooperation pledge into meaningful, concrete action ahead of the Heads of State Summit in November. A good place to start would be to rally behind the Brazilian G20 Presidency’s proposal to introduce a coordinated minimum tax standard on billionaires.
In the past year, the Patriotic Millionaires have sponsored polls among G20 millionaires and American millionaires and found overwhelming support for taxing the rich. If even wealthy people themselves recognize the problem and are calling for their taxes to be raised, there is no excuse for G20 leaders to fail to act.