Gates Foundation report for G20 supports taxing financial transaction, tobacco, fuel to aid poor

Sep 27 2011

A report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that was commissioned by the G20 chair "proposes raising new funding for poorer countries by taxing financial transactions, tobacco, and shipping and aviation fuels, according to details of a G20 report obtained by Reuters," the news service reports. "The Gates Foundation was tasked by current G20 chair, France, to look at how the governments of its member countries could raise new money for aid to developing nations, including plugging an estimated $80-100 billion funding gap to help the poor adapt to climate change," the news agency writes. The report "suggests even a small tax of 10 basis points on equities and two basis points on bonds would raise about $48 billion among G20 member states, or $9 billion if only adopted by larger European countries," Reuters notes (Wroughton, 9/23). "Longstanding proposals for a tax on currency transactions have often been met by skepticism by governments, which argue it would drive currency trading from one financial center to another," the Financial Times reports (Beattie, 9/23).