Well-designed wealth taxes, however, such as those in Norway and Switzerland, can boost tax revenue and narrow inequality gaps without risking jobs and investment, according to Fernando Velayos, a tax policy consultant in Spain and former researcher at the Inter-American Development Bank.
Here are the wealth taxes on the table in Latin America:
Chile
A wealth tax bill currently being considered by congress proposes a one-time tax of 2.5% on equity of individuals with fortunes of $22 million or above.
The legislation faces many steps before becoming law. It still needs to go to the floor of the lower house for a vote and then to the senate. President Sebastian Pinera, himself a billionaire, could seek to block the tax, by asking the constitutional court to review it.
Colombia
The Finance Ministry says it will send a bill to congress in the coming days which includes a wealth tax to be payable by individuals on net assets above a threshold of 5 billion pesos ($1.4 million). The tax rate isn’t public yet.
Colombia first charged such a tax in 2002, as an emergency measure to build up the army at a time when Marxist guerrillas were near the peak of their power. Since then, wealth taxes have been renewed every few years. The most recent such tax, passed in 2018, raised about 1 trillion pesos last year, equivalent to 0.1% of gross domestic product.
Peru
Presidential candidate Veronika Mendoza favors a 1% tax on individuals with more than $100 million in assets. Mendoza is jockeying for second place in the polls ahead of the April 11 vote. Another candidate, George Forsyth, says he’d encourage affluent Peruvians to repatriate their money held offshore under a tax amnesty program.
Mexico
Ruling party lawmaker Alfonso Ramirez Cuellar is proposing a one-time tax that would affect 160,000 people and collect as much as 100 billion pesos (about $5 billion), according to a newspaper interview he gave in March. The lawmaker says the measure, part of a package of fiscal reforms, may not be presented until August.
Uruguay
Opposition lawmakers in Montevideo submitted a bill Tuesday to apply a temporary 2% tax on offshore financial assets held by Uruguayans. The bill faces long odds with pro-business President Luis Lacalle Pou’s ruling coalition controlling both houses of congress.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.