Ireland's climate minister supports Brazil’s proposal for a global tax on billionaires to raise funds to fight the climate crisis. The suggestion was put to the G20 as they hosted finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.
Eamon Ryan says the 2 per cent tax on assets worth over $1 billion would impact around just 100 families globally but could help raise $250 billion which would "certainly help" if "targeted at reducing poverty that is coming because of climate change".
He told the Irish Mirror said: "The proposal is coming from the Brazilian Government - they were hosting the G20 finance ministers in recent days. It’s part of international discussions around how we raise the money to tackle climate change.
"The IEA estimates that 4.5 trillion a year, we need to invest. [COP29] negotiations in Baku this year will be all about where the money will come from and I think the European position, the Irish position is we need a whole layer of finance solutions.
"The money can’t all just come from western governments but it does need to come.
"I think the proposal from the Brazilian Government is a very good one... the great disadvantage, when people in the past said you could tax billionaires - then immediately people would say ‘we can’t do that because they will just take their money from one country and move into another’.
"But if this is a genuine global solution and you can get the countries of the United Nations to agree on it - which would be the question put in Baku - then... that problem of the capital flying off to some other location is greatly reduced.
"The Brazilians are proposing a tax of 2 per cent on assets over $1 billion. I think there’s about 100 families that would be impacted around the world but it might raise something like $250 billion, which isn’t small.
"It would certainly help and it would also help if it’s targeted at reducing the poverty that is coming because of climate change and the high cost of fuel."
The Observer reported on Sunday how Ana Toni, Brazil’s national secretary for climate change, said: "Our feeling is that, morally, nobody’s against.
"But the level of support from some countries is bigger than others."
The climate crisis is expected to cost trillions every year as countries try to mitigate, adapt and tackle climate related disasters.
Despite the lack of open opposition to Brazil’s proposal, ministers have agreed to delay a decision on the move to future summits.
Ireland's Department of Finance said their minister, Jack Chambers, was not in Rio for discussions on July 26-27 but "the G20's work on this area is being monitored".
They added: "While the background to calls for a specific wealth tax in Ireland are understood, it is not the case that wealth in Ireland is untaxed, as taxes on wealth are already in place in this country."
Those include "Local Property Tax, Capital Gains Tax, and Capital Acquisitions Tax" while they said "certain forms of Stamp Duty also act as taxes on wealth, including those on the acquisition of shares, stocks and marketable securities of Irish registered companies, and on the acquisition of property both residential and non-residential".
"The total net receipts from these various forms of tax came to just under €4.2 billion in 2023."
They added: "A 2022 report from the Commission on Taxation & Welfare identified impediments to the implementation of a specific wealth tax here. They found that a new tax on net wealth should not be introduced without in the first instance attempting to substantially amend Ireland’s existing taxes on capital and wealth.
"Rather than introducing a specific tax on wealth, the Commission maintains that it would be more effective to re-examine the primary existing forms of wealth tax, CGT and CAT. These taxes on wealth have well-established, but distinct, bases and are well-understood in their operation.
"Therefore, the Minister for Finance has no immediate plans to introduce an additional wealth tax to those set out above. The taxation of wealth will however be kept under review throughout the annual budgetary process."
