LatinNews Daily - 29 February 2024

*Brazil’s finance minister, Fernando Haddad, has called for global cooperation on raising more taxes from the “super-rich”, in a speech addressing the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in São Paulo. “We have arrived at an unsustainable situation, in which the richest 1% own 43% of global financial assets and emit the same amount of carbon emissions as the poorest two thirds of humanity,” Haddad declared in his speech transmitted to the meeting via video link, as he has recently tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19). “While hyper-financialisation proceeded at an accelerated pace, a complex offshore system was set up to offer increasingly elaborate forms of tax evasion for the super-rich,” he said. Giving a press conference yesterday in Haddad’s stead, Dario Durigan, the finance ministry’s executive secretary, said that the Brazilian proposal for a global wealth tax initiative has received support from some European countries, although details need to be discussed further.  Since taking office in January 2023, tax-related legislation has been a major priority for Haddad. In November-December 2023, congress approved government-backed legislation for taxes on offshore funds and a landmark reform of Brazil’s complicated system of consumption taxes. Local media has reported that the government is planning more domestic reforms in 2024, for taxes on income and property.