The Independent Commission For the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) welcomes the Chilean presidency of the Regional Platform for Tax Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC) and calls upon the Chilean government to continue to foster a regional tax dialogue and expand it to the rest of Latin American countries.

ICRICT also welcomes the support of the members of the PTLAC for Brazil’s proposal for a minimum tax on the super-rich, a key priority for Brazil’s G20 presidency.

ICRICT commissioner and EU Tax Observatory director Gabriel Zucman has been asked by the government of Brazil to draw up a detailed plan of how a global minimum tax on billionaires would work, ready for the meeting of G20 finance ministers in July and today he presented its proposal during ECLAC’s XXXVI Regional Seminar on Fiscal Policy in Santiago.

Quotes from our commissioners

Joseph Stiglitz, co-chair of ICRICT said: “Only international tax cooperation can limit the ability of corporations and the super-rich to avoid paying their fair share. The PTLAC presidency of Chile and Brazil’s G20 presidency can breathe a new lease of life into a new international tax agenda to deliver a progressive global tax architecture”

Jayati Ghosh, co-chair of ICRICT, said: “More and more countries realize that extreme wealth inequalities are creating dysfunctional economies and posing a threat to democracy.  One obvious and immediate policy that can begin to address this is the imposition of taxes on extreme wealth. This is possible once we recognise that tax evasion by the powerful is not a law of nature, but a consequence of political choice ”

Gabriel Zucman, director of the European Tax Observatory and ICRICT commissioner, said: “A global minimum tax on billionaires , equal to 2% of their wealth,  would generate $250 billion in additional tax revenue globally for governments to invest in public services such as health, education, the environment, and infrastructure – from which everybody benefits, including those at the top of the income pyramid”

José Antonio Ocampo, ICRICT commissioner and former finance minister of Colombia, said “Tax avoidance and evasion by multinationals and the richest in our society reduce fiscal space and valuable resources to finance development. That is why, for Colombia and the whole Latin American and Caribbean region, a top concern is the establishment of a fairer international tax system. I look forward to the Chilean presidency of the the PTLAC so that as a region we can work towards common tax measures and standards to tackle shared problems, including reducing inequality and poverty”.

Note to the editors:

• The Regional Platform for Tax Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC) is a permanent forum for regional dialogue to develop international and regional fiscal policies that are more inclusive, equitable, sustainable, created by Colombia, Chile and Brazil in 2023 and includes 9 countries from Latin America. 
• Brazil, the current president of the Group of Twenty (G20), is aiming to build international consensus on the taxation of wealth this year, and would push for a joint declaration at a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in July.