The possible introduction of a global minimum tax for billionaires is being actively discussed in the European Union. This solution is offered as part of the international fight against tax evasion and can bring significant revenues.
The EU's tax observatory says countries must come together to come up with new solutions to curb tax evasion among the wealthiest. It is proposed to establish a global minimum tax that could bring in about 250 billion dollars annually.
According to researchers from the Paris School of Economics, this tax would amount to only 2% of the total wealth owned by more than 2,700 billionaires worldwide, who have about 13 trillion dollars at their disposal.
Today, personal tax liabilities for billionaires are often far below those paid by ordinary taxpayers with more modest fortunes. This is because billionaires can keep their money in offshore companies, which allows them to avoid income taxes.
Gabriel Zukman, director of the Tax Observatory, believes that this practice is difficult to justify, as it can undermine the stability of tax systems and social justice in the field of taxation.
According to the Tax Observatory, personal tax rates for billionaires in the US are about 0.5%, and in high-tax France, they are close to zero. An attempt to include in the US budget for 2024 a 25% minimum tax rate for the richest 0.01% of citizens did not gain support due to resistance and the threat of a government shutdown.
The widening of the wealth gap in some countries leads to increasing demands for an increase in the tax burden on the wealthiest citizens.
The 2021 agreement between 140 countries limited the ability of multinational corporations to reduce taxes by filing profits in low-tax countries, setting a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15%.
Gabriel Zucman argues that the logical next step would be to apply similar logic to billionaires, not just multinationals. The report also highlights that, despite the abolition of bank secrecy and the introduction of a global minimum corporate tax rate, there are ways to avoid paying taxes, such as investing in real estate and dodging the 15% corporate tax floor.
