WEALTH TAX: Spain, Brazil and South Africa create alliance to tax super-rich at UN conference

Spain, Brazil and South Africa announced a new global coalition to tax the super-rich at the Fourth Financing for Development Conference in Seville, Spain. Oxfam said the alliance created at the UN conference shows the political will for taxation of the super-rich that countries must follow their lead and join forces.

The alliance is said to be a global push to address the inequality that is driven by a financial system that puts the interests of the wealthy above the rest.

“We welcome the leadership of Brazil, Spain and South Africa in calling for taxes on the super-rich. People around the world are pushing for more countries to reject the corrupting political influence of oligarchies,” Susana Ruiz, tax justice policy lead for Oxfam, said. “Taxation of the super-rich is a vital tool to secure sustainable development and fight inequalities.”

Ruiz confirmed that the wealth of the richest 1 percent has increased $33.9 trillion since 2015, but the billionaires worldwide only pay around 0.3 percent in real taxes.

“This concentration of wealth is blocking progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and keeping over three billion people living in poverty: over half of poor countries are spending more on debt repayments than on healthcare or education,” Ruiz said.

The increase in wealth is enough to end annual poverty 22 times, Oxfam reported.

“In a tense geopolitical environment, Spain, Brazil and South Africa have taken an important step in forging an alliance here at the UN conference in Seville to show political will for taxation of the super-rich,” Ruiz said. “Now other countries must follow their lead and join forces. This year, the FFD in Seville, COP30 in Brazil and G20 in South Africa are key opportunities for international cooperation to tax the super-rich and invest in a sustainable future that puts human rights and equality at its core.”