The need to tax rich people like me has never been so dire. Extreme wealth concentration in the hands of a few oligarchs is a threat to democracy the world over. 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.
This week, finance ministers and central-bank governors from G20 countries will meet in Washington DC at the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They will have a chance to commit to raising the taxes of wealthy people.
At the recent São Paulo, Brazil meeting in February this year, 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 ($14.2tn) than ever before. This tracks with 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 groundbreaking report last year.
Finance ministers from both Brazil and France came out publicly in support of this idea, and a handful of other countries have quietly assured activists they are supportive of the policy framework.
Movement in the G20 to tackle this issue is a small sign of progress. But for nearly two decades, I have been calling on the US to raise my and other wealthy Americans’ taxes. In that time, however, the global economy has become increasingly interconnected, which has made it easier than ever for the ultra-wealthy to move their capital to avoid paying taxes. The result is that billionaires now get away with paying lower tax rates than all other income groups. So any serious attempts to rein in increasing wealth inequality must be international in scope. G20 countries have no option but to work together if they want to institute minimum standards for taxing the rich.
Instituting a global minimum tax on billionaires will undoubtedly be complex, but it is not impossible. Just three years ago, after decades of hard-fought negotiations, 136 OECD countries joined an accord to enact a 15% global minimum tax on multinational corporations. If we can institute a tax floor for the world’s largest corporations, there is no reason we can’t do the same for the world’s wealthiest individuals.
There is another tangible and immediate threat posed by extreme wealth concentration. As inequality has spiralled out of control, millions of economically disfranchised people around the world are turning their backs on democracy in favour of authoritarian and rightwing demagogues. Voters believe the system is rigged against them (and they’re right), but authoritarians wield that energy to attack democratic institutions, figuratively and literally.
As we saw with the January 6 Capitol attack and in the January 2023 assault on the Brazilian federal buildings, far-right extremists can weaponise anger and erode or destroy the guardrails of democracy. If the G20 works to tackle extreme wealth around the world, it can buttress our beleaguered democratic institutions and put a check on social unrest.
So what is getting in the way? It can’t be a lack of public support. Between 2017 and 2022, public polls in all G20 countries indicated strong backing for reducing inequality and raising taxes on the rich. A 2023 survey found that even millionaires in G20 countries are supportive of raising taxes. And finally, this week, a group called Patriotic Millionaires, of which I am a part, sponsored eye-popping projections on the buildings of the IMF and the World Bank to spotlight our support for raising taxes on ourselves.
While it is promising that economic powerhouses such as France and Brazil support instituting a global minimum tax on the world’s richest people, there are conspicuous voices missing, including that of my own economic representative, the US treasury secretary Janet Yellen. Yellen has yet to express her support for this being added to the G20 agenda. It would be an unforced error to allow the US, and other leading economies in the G20, to be caught flat-footed while Brazil and France lead the charge.
Supporting this international process would demonstrate the US’s – and Joe Biden’s – commitment to requiring the rich to pay their fair share of taxes while promoting a stronger and fairer economy. As I said, this issue polls well. It’s no secret that Biden could certainly use the assistance.
Again, we are making progress. But the work has just begun. The spring meetings provide an opportunity for the G20 nations generally, and the US specifically, to strengthen their resolve to save the planet and safeguard our democracies. The first step in doing so involves taxing the rich.
If a millionaire like me from one of the most famous families on Earth wants wealthy people to pay more in taxes, there is no reason or excuse for the G20 to ignore our pleas.
Abigail Disney is a documentary film-maker, activist and member of Patriotic Millionaires
