“The United States has declined a proposal for a global tax on the assets of wealthy individuals and businessmen, including Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, Femi Otedola, Chairman of the Femi Otedola Foundation, and Mike Adenuga, Chairman of Globacom telecommunication company in Nigeria, among others. Janet Yellen, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, announced this on Monday, affirming that the Biden administration supports ‘progressive taxation,’ where the affluent contribute a larger proportion of their income compared to those with lesser means.
Yellen stated, ‘We’re not supportive of a process to try to achieve that. That’s something we can’t sign on to,’ in reference to the notion of a global tax on billionaires with proceeds redistributed. Despite receiving support from leaders of some major economies like France and Brazil, the G20’s proposal faces limited prospects without U.S. backing.
While the U.S. backs a worldwide minimum tax on multinational corporations, it opposes taxing wealth rather than income, which could curb strategies allowing billionaires to increase their wealth with minimal taxable income.
At a G20 finance ministers meeting in February, Gabriel Zucman of the EU Tax Observatory highlighted evidence suggesting that the current global taxation of billionaires is regressive, with effective tax rates lower than those of average taxpayers. Zucman advocated for a common minimum standard through international coordination to address this issue, aiming to prevent the ultrawealthy from relocating to low-tax jurisdictions.
Last April, Dangote, Adenuga, Rabiu, and Otedola were listed among the world’s wealthiest billionaires by Forbes, alongside figures like Bernard Arnault, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. Dangote ranked 144th globally, followed by Adenuga at 409th, Rabiu at 581st, and Otedola at 2,152nd.”
