The 2024 G-20 Summit is taking place in Rio de Janeiro on November 18 and 19 in the background of two continuing wars in Ukraine and West Asia and the intensification of eco-political crisis in Europe. Moreover, the victory of Donald Trump in the November 5 presidential elections in USA has led to uncertainty over the future programmes of NATO and the relationship between USA and Europe.
President Joe Biden is attending the G-20 summit as the lame duck president. This will be his farewell meeting with the G-20 heads. Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending. President Biden’s views at the discussions will have little impact as Trump who takes over on January 20 next year, may differ in his approach to many of the major issues on the agenda at the Rio summit.
President Lula as the host of the summit has worked hard in preparing proposals on lines of the motto of the summit ‘Building a just world and sustainable planet’. The G-20 leaders will take part in three sessions on the three main priorities of the Brazilian presidency. These are social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty, reform of the institutions of global governance and the third is sustainable development and energy transition.
In the first session, the leaders will discuss the issues related to fighting inequality, social and financial inclusion, international tax cooperation and food security. President Lula has tabled his proposal on tax on super rich or tax on billionaires under this agenda. Already, the issue was discussed at G-20 finance minister’s meet early this year and in the G-20 Social Summit getting approval from a large number of nations. Monday’s session will test how many countries support the proposal of the President Lula and if accepted, what will be the norms for implementation.
During the second session, the G-20 leaders will focus their attention on the modernization of the leading international bodies, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. Further, the evolution of the international financial system, especially the multilateral development banks will come up for deliberations.
G20 members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States, the African Union and the European Union. Spain is also invited as a permanent guest. The previous G-20 summit was held in New Delhi hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as India was G-20 President in 2023.
The debate on energy transitions is scheduled for the morning of November 19. The world is facing an unprecedented climate crisis, and the G20 countries, which represent the majority of carbon emissions, will discuss strategies to promote a greener and more sustainable global economy. Brazil, which has positioned itself as a leader on environmental issues in the global agenda, advocates for an approach that takes local realities and access to clean energy sources into account.
As regards the proposal on imposing super tax on rich, President Lula is pursuing it since the G-20 finance minister’s meeting in March this year. Speaking to a meeting of finance ministers, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said then that tax evasion could be resolved through international co-operation so that “these few individuals make their contribution to our societies and to the planet’s sustainable development.”He informed Brazil is pushing for a declaration on international taxation by G-20 members.
However, on the issues of global tax on super rich, India did not make any move though, proposals were discussed for averting tax evasion by the high profile multinational companies including the giant tech companies of the USA. Brazilian President Lula has been taking a number of major initiatives in the interests of the developing nations and the underprivileged and the global tax on super rich is one of them. He has garnered good support including South Africa which will be hosting G-20 summit in 2025..
The issue is a crucial one for the rich members of the G-20 and it will not be a smooth affair for Brazil to push that. Mr. Haddad in fact admitted that there would be a lot of debate about the proposal since not every member feels the same way about the problem that was brought to the Sao Paulo meeting by Brazil. Brazilian finance minister then underlined that Brazil would play its role as the G-20 president to focus the issues which were not earlier discussed by the G-20 members.
According to a 2023 study by advocacy group Tax Justice Network, countries around the world could lose up to $4.8 trillion (£3.8 trillion) in tax revenue over the next decade due to tax havens. These havens are patronized by the global companies as also the rich many of them belonging to India. A report earlier this year by the EU Tax Observatory found that billionaires worldwide have effective tax rates equivalent of between 0 per cent and 0.5 per cent of their wealth. What is shocking is that during pandemic years, while the poor and others suffered and died, the profits of the big companies as also the worth of the rich individuals went up. In fact inequality widened more in pandemic years.
For India, the imposition of a special tax on super rich is overdue as all the recent reports including the latest OXFAM report released in January this year show that inequality has been steadily going. In pandemic and post pandemic years, the poor people without assured social security are having pathetic living conditions whereas the incomes of upper middle class and rich have been on the rise. The widening of inequality has special impact in India because the common citizens are not protected through social security measures like many other countries of West and Latin America and other developing nations.
According to OXFAM report, India is facing rising industrial concentration in just five hands, and is enriching billionaires, private equity funds, and crony capitalists driving unprecedented level of inequalities and poverty among people. Dalits are facing high and unaffordable out-of-pocket fees in the private healthcare sector, financial exclusion in the private healthcare sector, and overt discrimination in both.
Globally, since 2020, the richest five men have doubled their fortunes, but during the same period almost five billion people globally have become poorer. Hardship and hunger are daily reality, and at the current rate, it will take 230 years to end poverty, but we could have the world’s first trillion are in just 10 years. . India is among the poorest nations among the G-20 members. The inequality has spread more in India in the last decade under Narendra Modi’s rule. It is high time that India also agrees to such super tax on the rich and support the proposal of the mover President Lula. It is to be seen how Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes his position on this proposal. (IPA Service)
