He won’t budge. The French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire said, Friday May 24, that he was “determined to move forward” on global taxation of the richest, despite the opposition displayed the day before by his American counterpart to international negotiations on this theme.
“I am totally determined to move forward” on this subject, declared Bruno Le Maire in response to a question from AFP on the sidelines of the G7 Finances in Stresa in northern Italy.
Yellen opposed to this idea
The day before, barely arriving in Stresa, the American Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen had spoken out against “an international tax negotiation” on this project defended by Brazil on the occasion of its presidency of the G20 and supported by France.
Bruno Le Maire wanted to put the scope of the American opposition into perspective: “It was the same thing that the United States said when it came to taxing the digital giants […] In the end, we managed to reach an agreement,” he argued.
“We had the same question about minimum taxation […] there were disagreements. We have overcome these disagreements. We now have digital taxation, a minimum taxation for corporate tax that is in place,” he continued. “I wish it was the same thing because it is the missing piece of the puzzle “, he added.
“My ambition has always been a global reform of the international tax system: digital, which escapes taxation, minimum corporate tax to avoid tax evasion and taxation of the richest,” he concluded .
An idea from the Brazilian government
The Brazilian government was inspired by the work carried out by French economist Gabriel Zucman on the taxation of the richest. According to the latter, if the planet’s 3,000 billionaires paid at least the equivalent of 2% of their fortune in income taxes, this global tax could bring in an additional $250 billion.