Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 19, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's prime minister has said that he was open to debating a tax on the super-rich, but admitted that neither Portugal nor the G20 are "yet in a position to take a decision" on the matter.
On the sidelines of the G20 summit, whose work Portugal is included in for the first time as an observer at the invitation of the Brazilian presidency, Luís Montenegro answered questions on Monday from the media, namely about the possibility of a global tax on large fortunes.
"It's an issue that is, as it was on the table, that we view from a conceptual point of view with openness, but naturally we are not yet in a position - neither we nor our partners at this summit, I believe - to take a decision," he said.
The prime minister said that underlying the idea of this new tax is "greater solidarity between those who have more resources and those who have fewer resources".
"And this principle, I believe, is a universal principle of those who care about the dignity of people, of those who care about the resolution of the effective and concrete problems that many millions of people have in the world, when they are faced with inaccessibility to what is most basic in their lives," he said.
The Brazilian government had already recognised on Monday the difficulties in pushing through the creation of a global tax for the super-rich at the G20 summit due to the objections of some heads of state.
At an event on the sidelines of the summit, the minister for the environment, Marina Silva said that "some leaders" have objections "to issues linked to the climate agenda, to the financing agenda, above all to the issue of taxing the super-rich".
With no consensus among the ministers of finance, the creation of the tax now depends on a political decision by the heads of state, but agreement is difficult in the face of resistance from countries like the United States and Germany.
Among the countries that have already declared their support are France, Spain and South Africa, which will take over the temporary presidency of the forum next week in place of Brazil.
Portugal, for example, has yet to commit to a decision.
"The tax for the super-rich is something that deserves study and consideration, to which we are open," the minister of foreign affairs, Paulo Rangel, had told journalists in July, on the way out of a G20 meeting.
Even so, the Portuguese minister emphasised, "its contours are not fully defined".
Argentina has been one of the main obstacles to a joint declaration becoming a reality. In fact, Argentina withdrew shortly after the start of the COP29 climate summit in Baku and also failed to sign a ministerial declaration on women's empowerment at the G20 in October.
According to a study commissioned by Brazil, if the world's approximately 3,300 billionaires paid the equivalent of 2% of their wealth in taxes, between US$200 and US$250 billion could be raised annually.
The leaders of the G20 group and invited countries, including Portugal, are debating on Monday in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro the entry into a global alliance against hunger and reforms in international organisations.
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