The G20 summit in Rio aims to build consensus on taxing the super-rich for climate action and poverty relief. But as geopolitical issues take priority, President Lula may struggle to quell skepticism over the proposal.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, hosting the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro from Monday, will try to progress plans to tax the world’s richest billionaires, who often use complex loopholes to avoid tax.
At a July meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio, the world’s wealthiest nations agreed to start a “dialogue on fair and progressive taxation, including of ultra-high-net-worth individuals,” despite fierce resistance from the United States and within Germany’s now collapsed coalition government.
While the world’s growing geopolitical issues — the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, a second Trump term in the US and China trade — are expected to dominate the two-day summit, Lula hopes to move the wealth tax plan forward as the money raised from billionaires will help boost other pressing global issues.