Meanwhile, we are cooking our planet and irreversibly damaging our biosphere.
Last summer was the hottest on record, and we’re also seeing historic wildfires, biblical floods, devastating droughts and rising sea temperatures. It is only right that the funds to mitigate further damage and develop green energy systems come from those most able to pay – and who, by the way, are the ones disproportionately driving it with their jet-setting, gas-guzzling lifestyles.
Last week, finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 countries met in Washington DC at the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They have a chance to commit to raising the taxes of wealthy people.
At the February meeting in São Paulo, Brazil, economists and G20 finance leaders floated the idea of instituting a global minimum tax on the world’s billionaires , who are now more abundant in number ( 2,781 ) and in combined wealth ( $14.2 tn ) than ever. This follows countless recommendations and requests from economists and communities all over the world, including a proposal for a 2% tax on billionaires from the EU Tax Observatory in its inaugural report last year.
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