Billionaires: They’re Earth’s biggest polluters – so tax ’em until they squeal, say environmentalists
They fly around in their private jets, causing much more pollution than the average traveler. They have multiple, usually large, dwellings, each accounting for considerable emissions. And the industries that have made them rich in many cases belch out huge amounts of carbon (or they are financing similar enterprises).
But they hardly pay for their disparate contribution to the world’s warming.
If a couple of the world’s finance ministers have their way, though, that could change.
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Speaking at the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., alongside IMF head Kristalina Georgieva and Kenyan finance minister Njuguna Ndung’u, Brazil’s Fernando Haddad and France’s Bruno Le Maire pushed for a 2% tax on the world’s 3,000 or so U.S.-dollar billionaires, according to AFP.
Haddad, a member of the recently elected left-wing government led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called on countries to “enhance revenue mobilization through fair, transparent, efficient and more progressive tax systems” to make the system “fairer.” A 2% wealth tax would generate about $250 billion in additional revenue worldwide, according to French economist Gabriel Zucman.
As for global warming, a wealth tax could be a key source of revenue for states to finance the trillions needed for the climate transition, the non-governmental organization Global Citizen said in a report published Wednesday. According to the study, the wealth of the richest people has collectively increased by $2.7 billion a day since 2020, and they emit on average a million times more carbon dioxide than the average person.
Meanwhile, Le Maire outlined a series of steps to boost transparency and information-sharing between countries in order to better determine the correct amount of tax that the world’s super-rich should pay.
Our bet: It won’t happen anytime soon, particularly in the U.S., home to the largest number of billionaires. But, hey, no harm in trying.
