Bruno Le Maire wants to “accelerate” the idea of ​​taxing billionaires on an international scale

France wants to “accelerate” international negotiations with a view to establishing minimum taxation on billionaires, said Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday, speaking on the sidelines of a G20 in Brazil. “We are fully committed to accelerating the process of establishing at the international level, at the OECD level, at the G20 level, and I hope at the level of European countries, a minimum taxation of individuals in order to combat any form of tax optimization for people around the world,” said the French minister.

Nearly 140 states agreed at the end of 2021 on minimum taxation of multinationals under the aegis of the OECD, consisting of two pillars, the first aimed at a better distribution of taxation for digital giants and the second at a minimum tax of 15% on companies. The international community now needs a “third pillar”, the French minister said on Wednesday, affirming that “France will be at the forefront on the subject”.

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“Today you have the possibility for the richest people to avoid paying the same amount of income tax as other people who are less rich. We want to avoid this tax optimization, we want to do it at the international level because it is the only effective way,” the minister further affirmed in Brazil. The level of taxation of the richest comes up at very regular intervals in debates, particularly since the wealth of billionaires has soared thanks to the pandemic and the explosion in the stock prices of giants in the technology sector.

Within the G20 countries, the richest 1% have seen the tax rates applicable to their income fall by almost a third in recent decades, the NGO Oxfam estimated in a study published Tuesday. According to his calculations, of every dollar of tax revenue generated in G20 countries, less than 8% comes from wealth taxes.

The French economist specializing in inequalities and tax havens Gabriel Zucman is due to present his recommendations on Thursday for minimum taxation of the wealth of billionaires to the G20 Finance Ministers, meeting in São Paulo under the Brazilian presidency.