BRAZIL’S finance minister told a G20 meeting in Sao Paulo on Thursday that countries should implement a global tax on the super-rich in an effort to tackle rampant tax evasion.

Speaking to a meeting of finance ministers, Fernando Haddad said that tax evasion could be resolved through international co-operation so that “these few individuals make their contribution to our societies and to the planet’s sustainable development.”

He said that Brazil is pushing for a declaration on international taxation by G20 members that he hopes would be ready in July. 

But in a press conference at the end of the meeting, he recognised the path would be far from smooth.

Mr Haddad said: “There will be a lot of debate about this, which is absolutely natural, especially because not every country feels the same way about this problem that was brought to the G20 by Brazil.”

Brazil currently has the presidency of the 20 leading rich and developing nations and President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva has put issues that concern the developing world, such as the reduction of inequalities and the reform of multilateral institutions, at the heart of its agenda.

Mr Haddad said: “Brazil has a role to play, a legitimacy to use on the issues that need to be addressed and that are not always represented in the G20.”

According to a 2023 study by advocacy group Tax Justice Network, countries around the world could lose up to $4.8 trillion (£3.8trn) in tax revenue over the next decade due to tax havens. 

And a report earlier this year by the EU Tax Observatory cited by Mr Haddad, found that billionaires worldwide have effective tax rates equivalent of between 0 per cent and 0.5 per cent of their wealth.

This comes as the gap between the super-rich and the bulk of the global population has been supercharged since the coronavirus pandemic.