Oxfam says 60% tax on “super rich” could raise $6.4 trillion to fight climate change
- France and Kenya plan to launch a task force, at the upcoming UN climate summit in Dubai, to push for new global tax initiatives to help fund the fight against climate change and climate change mitigation. The task force will consider the feasibility of climate taxes on shipping, aviation, financial transactions, and fossil fuels, to eventually make proposals that in a few years could be considered at the UN, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Group of 20 Countries, according to a report. (Climate Change News)
- With the UN’s two-week COP28 climate summit set to start Nov. 30, non-governmental organizations are calling for global tax reforms to raise resources to fund climate and biodiversity measures.
- Franziska Mager, a senior researcher-advocate at London-based Tax Justice Network, said the Paris climate agreement produced by the COP21 summit in 2015 failed to address the role that taxes could play in closing the “gigantic gap” in financing needed to pay for the pact’s measures aimed at holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in this century, compared to pre-industrial levels. Mager said the gap amounts to trillions of dollars. “The idea for an international task force seems to show that the role tax can play in closing that gap is finally being recognized,” she said.
- Mager spoke during Tax Justice’s Tuesday webinar “A climate for tax justice,” which featured speakers from the United Nations, Mexico-based nonprofit Equidad, and Patriotic Millionaires UK representative Julia Davies, who argued, among other things, for a 1% wealth tax to fund climate and social initiatives in the UK. (Tax Justice Network)
60% Tax on Super Rich Could Raise $6.4 Trillion, Oxfam Says
- Oxfam, another London-based nonprofit, said governments can use tax to tackle both inequality and climate change by targeting “excessive emissions of the super-rich, and investing in public services and meeting climate goals.” In a report released Monday, Oxfam calculates that a 60% tax on the income of the world’s richest people could raise $6.4 trillion a year to pay for a transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. That could help slash global climate-warming emissions by more than the UK emits in a year, it said. (Oxfam International)
- France should lead the fight against international corporate tax fraud, among other things by pushing for the global minimum tax to be jacked up to 25% and for stronger transfer pricing rules, according to a parliamentary report. (Assemblée Nationale)
- An oil-refining company based on the island of Jersey is suing the European Union, Germany, and Denmark for around 95 million euros ($103.8 million) over a windfall tax imposed during the Ukraine war. (The Guardian)
- Azerbaijan became the 102nd country to sign the OECD’s multilateral convention to implement tax treaty-related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting. The treaty, known as the BEPS Convention, now covers over 1,900 bilateral tax treaties, the OECD said. (OECD.org)
Greenberg Traurig Gets Winston & Strawn Energy Tax Partner
- Florida-headquartered Big Law firm Greenberg Traurig added energy tax attorney David Gillespie as shareholder in New York. He arrives after close to six years at Winston & Strawn, where he was partner, and earlier spent 16 years at Norton Rose Fulbright, including as partner. He was partner and co-chair of global structured financing and leasing at accounting firm Arthur Andersen & Co., which shut down in 2002. (GTLaw.com)
- Canadian law firm Bennett Jones LLP elected vice chair and partnership board director John Mercury, a former Paul Weiss tax and corporate attorney, to become its new executive chair, effective Jan. 1, 2024. Mercury joined Bennett Jones in 2006, before which he was at investment bank Merrill Lynch. Bennett Jones appointed vice chair and Toronto office managing partner Dominique Hussey, a former Goodwin Procter intellectual property litigator, to be its next CEO. (Canadian Lawyer)
French Legal Tech Startup Raises $44 Million in Funding
- French legal tech startup Indy, which makes an automated tool to simplify accounting for freelancers and other self-employed professionals, raised $44 million in a funding round. (Tech Crunch)
