The structure of the Covid bailouts ensured that the big banks gained massively, often at the expense of small businesses. Now the world’s governments face another. Last week, Brazilian climate minister Ana Toni explained a proposal put forward by her government (and now supported by South Africa, Germany and Spain), for a 2% global tax on the wealth of the world’s billionaires. The collective fortune of billionaires rose by $2.7bn a day, while some of the world’s poorest became poorer still. When poorer countries propose global initiatives to prevent the ultra-rich from escaping taxation, rich nations, including the UK, have sought to stop them.

Source: The Guardian August 01, 2024 01:10 UTC