For Immediate Release
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Patriotic Millionaires Applaud Zucman’s Proposal for Coordinated Minimum Tax on Billionaires and Call on Secretary Yellen to Endorse It
“Zucman’s proposal will ensure ultra-wealthy people start paying their rightful share in taxes like everyone else and safeguard our economies and democracies from the grave threat posed by extreme wealth.”
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the EU Tax Observatory, under the direction of world-renowned economist Gabriel Zucman, released a report which outlines how a coordinated minimum tax on ultra-high-net-worth individuals would work in practice.
The report was commissioned by the Brazilian G20 presidency following Zucman’s speech at the February 2024 meeting of G20 Finance Ministers in São Paulo, Brazil. The end proposal involves a minimum tax standard equal to 2% of the wealth of the world’s roughly 3,000 billionaires, with allowance for flexibility in domestic implementation, including options for lower thresholds. In their analysis, Zucman and his team found that, compared with increases in personal income taxes and estate taxes, only their proposed coordinated minimum tax could adequately address regressivity at the upper end of tax systems.
The report comes on the heels of the release of a poll conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Patriotic Millionaires. The survey polled 800 Americans who reported having at least $1 million in assets, in addition to their homes, and found:
- 62% agree that rapidly expanding inequality is a threat to democracy
- 62% are supportive of international action to set standards for how we tax the super-rich
- 59% support a 2% tax on billionaire wealth
- 91% said the concentration of extreme wealth allows some to buy political influence
In response, Morris Pearl, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director at BlackRock, Inc., released the following statement:
“The Patriotic Millionaires wholeheartedly support Gabriel Zucman’s proposal for a coordinated minimum tax on the world’s richest individuals. Billionaires are paying lower tax rates than all other income groups, as they move capital to low-tax jurisdictions with laughable ease. If we want to protect democracy from the corrosive impact of extreme wealth, then the G20 must work together to compel the ultra-wealthy to pay their fair share.
A new poll sponsored by the Patriotic Millionaires demonstrated what I and my fellow wealthy patriots have been saying for years: no fewer than 62% of American millionaires support proposals like Zucman’s to set international standards for taxing the super-rich.
The poll also demonstrates that United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in the minority by refusing to support this initiative. Slow-walking American endorsement of a global agreement to tax billionaires only strengthens the hand of extremist politicians across the globe. It also stands at odds with President Biden’s stated goal of compelling billionaires to pay what they owe in taxes. The proposed tax would not have any redistributive element, which Yellen voiced concerns about last month. Its analysis also reveals that, when it comes to tackling tax avoidance at the very top, the coordinated minimum tax is the only effective tool we have.
There is simply no other way around it: the US must work with other countries to set international tax standards if there is to be any hope of achieving even a shred of tax fairness here at home. Zucman’s proposal will ensure ultra-wealthy people start paying their rightful share in taxes like everyone else and begin to safeguard our economies and democracies from the grave threat posed by extreme wealth. We implore Secretary Yellen to support the billionaire minimum tax proposal before it’s too late.”
For additional information or interview requests, please contact Emily McCloskey at emily@patrioticmillionaires.org.
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