DAVO | American actor Mark Ruffalo, known for his role as the Hulk in Marvel films, has joined a call from more than 150 wealthy people for higher taxes as global elites gather at the Economic Forum from Davos.
The actor is among the latest signatories to an open letter titled “In Tax We Trust,” first published at a virtual Davos conference in January, and joined at the time by one of the heirs to the Disney empire, Abigail Disney.
“While the world has seen immense suffering over the past two years, we have seen our fortunes increase during the pandemic, but few, if any, of us can honestly say that we are paying a fair share of taxes”, is it written in this updated letter on the occasion of the Davos Forum.
The group of “patriotic millionaires” behind the appeal says the number of signatories to this letter has increased from 100 in January to more than 150 in May.
Its chairman Morris Pearl, former chief executive of financial giant Blackrock, promised in a statement that he would “continue to press international leaders to heed our call: tax the rich before it is too late “.
Taxing the wealthiest is less effective than other money-raisers, OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said in Davos on Tuesday.
“It does not necessarily generate a lot of financial resources,” said Mr. Cormann during a conference. “In terms of political effect it is attractive, but in terms of objectives it is not so effective”, he added, pointing out on the other hand the effectiveness of property taxes.
“Wealth taxation has a huge scope, it has been tested and in some countries it works,” retorted Ofxam chief executive Gabriela Bucher.
The NGO is campaigning for an exceptional solidarity tax on the wealth newly acquired by billionaires during the pandemic, with the aim of using the resources generated to provide support to the most modest, pending a more permanent tax.
“It would be impossible to spend all the money that has been accumulated on one life,” she denounced on Tuesday.
The OECD, for its part, is at the origin of a project for the minimum taxation of multinationals and the distribution of taxation where they make their profits, currently under discussion.
