Proposta de ONGs, e do governo brasileiro, para a implementação de uma taxa financeira global sobre os megarricos

Proposta de ONGs, e do governo brasileiro, para a implementação de uma taxa financeira global sobre os megarricos

 Transcrevendo:

Wednesday, 10 July 2024

Dear G20 Leaders,

We, the undersigned former Heads of State and Government of G20 and higher-

income countries, write to ask for your leadership to back the Brazilian G20

presidency’s proposal for a new global deal to tax the world’s ultra-rich

individuals.

We, as former leaders, recognize a rare strategic opportunity when we see one.

Taxes are the foundation of a civilized, industrious, and prosperous society. Yet our

time is one in which the ultra-rich across the world pay a lower tax rate than

teachers and cleaners. Billionaires, globally, are paying a tax rate equivalent to less

than 0.5% of their wealth. Trillions of dollars that could have been productively

invested in communities, education, health, and infrastructure have instead been

unproductively accumulated by the ultra-wealthy.

Extreme inequality follows. In G20 countries, the share of income of the top 1% of

earners has risen by 45% over four decades while top tax rates on their incomes

were cut by roughly a third. That too many people feel the social contract is broken

and their democracies have left them behind is all too understandable.

We know you know this. But our time is also one of promise, and Brazil’s G20

proposal underlines the opportunity to write a new story about taxation for the

first time in a generation.

We commend governments providing leadership and championing bold proposals

to address inequality. Consider President Biden’s proposed billionaire income tax,

that sets a global example. Across the world and political spectrum, taxing the

ultra-rich enjoys consistent popular support, even among the ultra-rich

themselves. The leadership of the G20 was vital to securing a global deal for a

minimum tax on corporations. Now it’s time to do the same for the ultra-rich.

Every government must tax the ultra-rich. Every country can act. National action

is indispensable. We need to tax billionaires’ income in every country.

But national action alone can only go so far. Global capital does not respect national

borders. Tax avoidance and evasion by the ultra-rich succeeds when governments

fail to work together. We need global cooperation.

That is why the proposal set out by President Lula and the Brazilian G20

presidency for a new global deal for taxing the world’s ultra-rich individuals is

strategic and necessary.Now is the time to foster cooperation for a shared standard so every billionaire on

earth is paying a minimum level of their income in tax. We commend the

governments of France, South Africa and other countries supporting this much-

needed G20 proposal, and join the distinguished economists who champion it.

A new global deal to tax the ultra-rich is, crucially, in the service of strengthening

national efforts to ensure the ultra-rich cannot evade domestic taxation efforts. It

would reduce inequality and raise trillions of dollars necessary for investments in

industrial policy and a just transition.

A global deal to tax the ultra-rich would be a shot in the arm for multilateralism:

proving that governments can come together for the common good, especially at a

time of fractured North-South solidarity in a decade that has seen a pandemic and

war. It would build upon the G20 2021 minimum global corporate tax deal agreed

to by 136 countries.

And a global deal would also help our economies to be more productive and

resilient in the face of shocks. It must be designed in a manner that eases the tax

burden on the working classes; that is ambitious enough to redress inequality; and

that respects each country’s own policy choices for taxation.

We know, first-hand, the reality of political office and the constraints of leadership

– including the pressures placed upon you. Rare is a proposal that asks us as

former leaders to rally in unity – and that we recognize as politically possible. This,

clearly, is one.

Dear G20 leaders – you lead the world’s most powerful economies and in this time

of political and economic malaise, you can be the shepherds of progress and

change. We ask that you offer the world leadership for a new consensus on

taxation. We stand ready to support you on this agenda.

Sincerely yours,

(...)

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Comentário PRA: Não vai funcionar. OK, vamos elaborar.

Primeiro problema:  Como separar os países do G20 entre "higher-income countries" e os que não o são? 

    China, por exemplo, tem o segundo maior PIB do mundo, mas uma renda per capita média, não alta, e tem o maior número de bilionários, depois dos EUA (mas crescendo ao triplo da velocidade da acumulação de riqueza). O Brasil é a oitava maior economia do mundo, mas com uma renda per capita estagnada há décadas.

Segundo problema: fazer a lista dos megarricos, um punhado apenas de trilionários, e alguns milhares de bilionários. Quem entra, quem fica de fora?

Terceiro problema: identificar a riqueza líquida. Ou se pretende liquidar ações, mansões, iates, carros de luxo, dinheiro aplicado em investimentos financeiros (em países pobres) ou até em arte?

Quarto problema: Quem implementa o esquema? A ONU, o FMI, o BIS, o próprio G20?

Quinto problema: Como identificar os "alvos" da suposta bonança financeira? Fazer uma listinha de miseráveis, aos quais seria facultado um cartão de crédito para consumo?

Sexto problema: Taxar superricos e distribuir o dinheiro – como se isso fosse fácil ou possível – vai realmente acabar com a miséria no mundo, ou criar mais alguns "ricos" nos canais de distribuição, implementação e controle?

 

Podem até assinar a declaração no Rio de Janeiro, mas sua implementação, se algum dia acontecer, levará anos. Países decentes terão enriquecido no meio do caminho, com a globalização econômica, não com o ilusório Brics ou Sul Global.

Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Brasília, 21 julho 2024