Money

 Inequality -  How could a global minimum on billionaires actually work when no international body has the authority to impose taxes on individuals? No international body, [economist Gabriel] Zucman notes, has the authority to tax multinational corporations either. But the world now has what amounts to a 15 percent minimum tax on corporate profits that over 130 nations and territories are enforcing on a coordinated basis. hat same cooperative approach, Zucman contends, could bring the world an effective minimum tax on billionaires. This minimum tax, Zucman proposes, would kick in when billionaires aren’t paying in annual taxes a sum equal to 2 percent of their personal wealth.

In a world with this 2 percent global minimum, participating nations would also remain absolutely free to tax their richest at levels much higher than the minimum. Indeed, Zucman’s report points out, the existence of a global minimum tax on billionaires would encourage nations to put in place higher tax rates on our world’s wealthiest. In a minimum tax world, billionaires would have less opportunity — and incentive —  to engage in tax avoidance.

A 2 percent global billionaire tax minimum would raise, Zucman calculates, as much as $250 billion a year from a mere 3,000 individuals worldwide. Extending this tax to centi-millionaires — deep pockets worth at least $100 million — would add another $140 billion annually. Raising the global billionaire minimum tax rate to 3 percent could raise the annual take to as much as $688 billion.