<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, advocated this Thursday in Seville, within the framework of the 4th UN International Conference on Financing for Development, for the creation of progressive tax systems to guarantee "fair and inclusive development of countries and the reduction of inequality."</strong></h4> "We have abundant evidence that supports the fact that more egalitarian societies have better indicators of democratic satisfaction, fewer mental or physical health problems, and less citizen insecurity," Montero declared during her speech at the UN special event "New Framework for Global Tax Trends." Societies in more egalitarian countries "grow more sustainably and stably than those that are not," and therefore, she warned, "fair and inclusive development of countries and the reduction of inequality" through taxation are necessary. According to Montero, “the fiscal vision clearly defines the model of society to which each person legitimately aspires,” because the way to achieve more just societies is through taxes, which provide “a social safety net for citizens, guaranteeing their well-being, security, and equal opportunities,” regardless of the country. On the other hand, she warned, reducing the tax burden, which is often advocated to stimulate economic activity or investment, leads to “a weakening of states' ability to redistribute wealth or the ability to finance public services” and, therefore, makes it difficult for citizens to access social safety nets. Therefore, María Jesús Montero defended the decisive role of international fiscal cooperation in the fight against inequality, an issue channeled through taxation in all countries of the world and the implementation of progressive tax systems that can help level the playing field in countries with populations that have fewer opportunities to progress. “You can always count on Spain in this spirit of collaboration and shared work for a fairer and more progressive tax system,” she stated. María Jesús Montero lamented that, in recent years, there has been “an impressive increase and concentration of wealth in the hands of very few people or companies,” leading to the richest one percent in the world controlling 95 percent of all global wealth. Therefore, the Vice President recalled the joint decision of the governments of Spain and Brazil (announced last Tuesday in Seville) to promote a global initiative to achieve higher taxation of “the super-rich,” with the aim of combating growing extreme inequality and achieving greater wealth redistribution through “progressive tax systems.” “It is unacceptable that these large estates often enjoy effective tax rates that are significantly lower than the average worker or citizen,” she warned. For this reason, Montero called for a "political commitment" to advance a challenge that she placed on par with the climate emergency, the digital transition, and migration flows. In conclusion, María Jesús Montero called on countries, international organizations, academics, and civil society to begin a debate on ways to ensure the progressivity and effectiveness of global tax systems and called for international cooperation to "collect information on wealth concentration and effective tax rates." In addition to the vice president, the event was also attended by Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winner in Economics and head of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT); the Minister of Finance of Chile, Mario Marcel Cullell; the former Prime Minister of Senegal, Aminata Touré; the director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, Vítor Gaspar; and the global director of Tax Justice at Oxfam International, Susana Ruiz.
