Spain and Brazil promote a global initiative in Seville to raise taxes on the “super-rich”

Eduardo González The governments of Spain and Brazil presented a proposal at the United Nations Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) in Seville to promote a global increase in taxation of the super-rich. "Our countries increasingly need more public resources to meet their needs," declared Jesús Gascón, Secretary of State for Finance, at a press conference at the summit venue. "Inequality is a problem all over the world, and the richest pay less than the middle class, or even less than low-income people," he continued. One of the purposes of the initiative is to circumvent the legal agreements, tax loopholes, and loopholes through which the largest fortunes escape. Therefore, the proposal, aimed at the one percent of the population that owns more than 95 percent of the planet's wealth, would include, among other measures, the exchange of tax data and technical cooperation between states. "There is an urgent need to know who is really behind the companies and the legal structures used to hide assets," Gascón insisted. For his part, José Gilberto Scandiucci, Minister-Counselor of the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN, stated at the same press conference that, "as governments, as civil society, we cannot tolerate the intensity of inequality, which has been increasing in recent years." Therefore, he explained, the initiative envisions the creation of a global wealth registry to ensure "greater transparency, greater accountability, and a fairer contribution from the richest." According to Scandiucci, this proposal is not ideological. "It is a moderate initiative in the face of an extremely radical reality," he asserted. The two countries have agreed to develop, within three months, a work plan to promote the initiative and to encourage interested countries to join. Pedro Sánchez: “Tariffs are a collective defeat” On the other hand, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called this Wednesday for strengthening the multilateral system in international trade and restoring the central role of the World Trade Organization (WTO). During his speech at the roundtable "Defending the multilateral trading system and harnessing the potential of science, technology, and innovation," the Prime Minister stated that tariffs are "a brake" on the economy and warned that "responding with barriers" to industrial overcapacity or competition "only leads to a collective defeat, because there are no winners in an economy that closes in on itself." The event, co-chaired by Morocco's Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fettah, and Slovenia's Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and Minister of Development, Melita Gabrič, examined issues such as the revitalization of international trade in the face of rising tensions and tariffs, as well as ways to close technological gaps and facilitate access to digital infrastructure. Sánchez was accompanied by Elma Saiz, Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration. Global Health Action Initiative Later, Pedro Sánchez participated in the presentation of the Global Health Action Initiative, one of Spain's main proposals included in the Seville Platform for Action (SPA). According to the President, the Global Health Action Initiative, which has the support of the main multilateral health organizations and more than 10 countries, sets four major objectives: "strengthen the global health architecture and make it more sustainable and efficient, align international financing more closely with countries' priorities, promote universal health coverage through resilient, inclusive, and sustainable health systems, and encourage the mobilization of national resources." According to Sánchez, Spain will contribute to strengthening the global health architecture "with actions and more resources," specifically with "€315 million for the period 2025-2027." The proposal, he stated, comes at a time of "retreat and withdrawal by some states," in which "selfishness is winning the battle against empathy in a world of fragile memory," in which "science and knowledge are waging an unequal battle against the spreaders of hoaxes and conspiracy theories," and in which the world is forgetting the main lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic: "It doesn't matter how high the border walls are, because no virus will be stopped at a customs office." Along with Pedro Sánchez, the event was also attended by the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the Executive Directors of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Peter Sands, and of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, Sania Nishtar.

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