The US rich tax proposed by Biden should influence other countries

US President Joe Biden plans to raise taxes on rich Americans in Congress on Monday (28). According to a government document received by The Washington Post, the so-called “billionaire minimum income tax” is $ 100. Families worth millions (approximately R $ 475 million) will be taxed at a minimum of 20%. The move could affect governments and members of Congress in many countries, especially in Latin America.

The plan, if passed by Congress, would bring about a profound change in the tax bill of American billionaires. The University of California at Berkeley, cited by the Washington Post, estimates that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, for example, will pay another $ 50 billion in taxes, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will pay $ 35 billion. Further.

According to information in the US government document, the American media quotes that the minimum tax for billionaires will ensure that rich Americans no longer pay lower tax rates than the middle class. The fund, valued at more than $ 1 trillion over 10 years, will be used by the Biden administration to reduce the budget deficit. Half of the expected income will come from households worth $ 1 billion or more.

A study released by the Biden administration last year shows that between 2010 and 2018, 400 billionaire households paid an average of 8.2% tax on their income. That ratio is generally lower than many middle-class American households. .

The White House says, “Biden is a capitalist and believes that anyone can become a millionaire or a billionaire.” “He (Biden) believes that it is wrong for rich families in the United States to have a tax code that pays a lower tax rate than working families.”

In many parts of the world, there are countries that have imposed taxes on large assets or personal wealth. Data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reveals that Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain, France, Austria, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and 12 of its 37 members have already introduced the tax. The Netherlands is one of the highest per capita income groups in the world.

Many measures are being followed in these countries, but others have backfired. Among those who went back and withdrew the action, France stands alone. After the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017, the government decided to repeal the property tax. One of the arguments is that tax evasion is easy, in addition to escaping to tax havens.

The episode involving French film star Gérard Depardieu drew worldwide attention. To escape the tax, Deportivo flew from France to Belgium in 2012. Later, in 2103, he became a Russian citizen. Shortly afterwards he declared income tax to Russian authorities, as a self-employed person, paying only 6% of income.

Among Brazil’s neighbors, Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia have already adopted wealth taxes. In Uruguay, this is called equity taxes (IPOs) and is levied on the net worth of individuals and law firms, including cash, precious metals, vehicles, real estate and furniture.

In Argentina, it was known as personal property tax levied on real estate, cars, cash (in pesos and foreign currencies), bank balances, finance and other investments, artifacts, antiques and goods abroad. In Colombia, taxation on the rich is calculated taking into account gross net depreciation debt and assets abroad.

In Chile, during Sebastian Pinera’s government, the topic returned to debate after the proposal for a constitutional change approved by the House of Representatives failed in the first ballot, this time led by Gabriel Borick. The new president will impose a tax on wealth that will raise 1.3% of GDP, but there is opposition from Congressmen who see practical difficulties in implementing it.

In Brazil, property taxes are enshrined in the constitution. Section 153, paragraph VII of the letter states, “Under the provisions of a complementary law, it is the duty of the Union to establish taxes for great fortunes,” but there is no regulation.

There is no dearth of proposals for Congress to regulate the wealth tax. Since 2020, Deputy Paulo Quotes (PT-MG (paradoxically or not, with the same name as the Minister of Economy, Paolo Quotes) has established the most recent one, the Tax on Great Fortunes (IGF). 2 .5% of the value of the assets.

The new tax will apply to personal use assets such as residence or leisure worth more than R $ 5 million; Cars worth more than R $ 500 thousand; Ships worth over BRL 1 million and aircraft worth over BRL 5 million. Under the proposal, the money raised will only be used for the construction of teaching or health units approved by the central, state and municipal governments.