Pandemic: IMF recommends provisional tax on the rich

Governments, which need additional resources to continue helping the most vulnerable to emerge from the crisis, could increase taxes on the richest or the companies that made more profits during the pandemic, recommends the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday.

Read also: Can taxation of the richest promote recovery?

"

The pandemic has increased inequalities, and governments have had to provide

significant financial

support

" to the people and businesses hardest hit, Paolo Mauro, an IMF fiscal officer, told a press conference.

It is "

necessary to mobilize additional tax revenues

" to redeploy them through health care, education, social safety nets, he added.

Provisional income tax

To do this, the IMF recommends, as it did in October, the establishment of a temporary tax on highest incomes to help governments meet these financing needs.

Acknowledging that in advanced economies there has been an erosion of corporate tax income in recent years, Paolo Mauro welcomed the international initiative “

to reach an agreement

” on the taxation of corporate income. 'global minimum taxation.

“

We have also seen an erosion of personal income taxation for people at the top of the income scale

,” he added.

"

So in advanced economies there is an opportunity to reverse

" this trend by increasing both corporate and wealthier personal income taxes, eliminating tax loopholes, increasing property taxes or inheritance tax, he detailed.

A whole range of options available

“

So there is a whole range of options available,

” he continued.

An interim tax to recover from the Covid, which would go through a corporate surtax, would make sense in particular for companies that made more profits during the crisis, he said, referring to giants like Amazon.

On Tuesday, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said he supported the idea of ​​raising corporate taxes in the United States.

President Joe Biden denounced last week the fact that the group does not pay tax on its profits.

All-round vaccination

The head of budgetary affairs of the IMF Vitor Gaspar, for his part, defended vaccination in all directions.

More than $ 1,000 billion in additional tax revenue could be generated by 2025 globally if all countries brought the pandemic under control sooner than expected.

This would also "

save billions in additional aid measures

" to savings, observes the IMF in its report on budgetary surveillance released Wednesday as part of the spring meetings.

"

Vaccination is therefore more than cost-effective, as it offers excellent value for money for the public funds invested to accelerate the global production and distribution of vaccines,

" comment the authors.