U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressed Thursday her disagreement with the proposal that the Brazilian government is pushing within the framework of the Group of 20 (G20) to reach a comprehensive agreement that allows the large fortunes to be valued.
“It makes sense for most countries to address progressive taxation (…) but tax policy is very difficult to coordinate globally and we do not see the need, nor do we believe it is desirable, to try to negotiate a comprehensive agreement on that; all countries should certify that their tax systems are fair and progressive,” Yellen said at the meeting of finance ministers from the G20 countries in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
The proposal to value the great fortunes, and not only the richest people in the world, remains one of the main proposals of the Brazilian presidency of the G20, an international forum of rulers and central bank presidents of 20 industrialized countries and emerging economies.
Brazil’s economy minister, Fernando Haddad, again defended the plan this week, saying that if all the billionaires in the world paid a two percent tax on their wealth, between $200,000 and $250 billion could be raised.
The Secretary of International Affairs of Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, Tatiana Rosito, downplayed the words of the U.S. Treasury Secretary and said that the objectives of this Thursday’s meeting, of a more technical nature, were reached.
The technicians of the ministries of economy and finance of the G20 countries meeting in Rio de Janeiro are negotiating a final communiqué, but the last word will be held by the ministers, who meet on July 26.
Yellen was also asked about the global alliance against hunger and poverty that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva presented this week, and said that the United States is very satisfied to participate in the initiative, although she did not cite funds or any other concrete data.
“The US gave a substantial amount of money, working with development banks, to increase their contributions to food security; we sponsored, after the invasion of Ukraine, an action plan for all international financial institutions to combat food insecurity,” Yellen said.
This week’s meetings are a pre-sything pre-sup to the large summit of G20 heads of state, which will take place on 18 and 19 November in Rio de Janeiro.
This article has been translated after first appearing in El Pais