To Pay for the Pandemic, Dry Out the Tax Havens
\nCorporations and the wealthy have stashed away as much as $36 trillion in untaxed money. It’s time to bring the hammer down.<\/p>\n
David L. Carden reports: The costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and its massive economic fallout are difficult to estimate, but the sums will be enormous. The first U.S. stimulus package alone exceeded $2 trillion. Then there is the loss of life, reduced economic productivity, and the personal financial ruin many will face. More stimulus packages likely will be required. Worldwide, the total costs will be even higher.<\/p>\n
The bitter truth is that the costs and consequences of the pandemic likely could have been avoided or dramatically reduced if leaders had done their jobs. In 2013, the World Bank estimated that an annual expenditure of only $3.4 billion would have let developing countries build up a robust pandemic prevention capability, making a global outbreak much less likely. Yet this relatively modest expenditure wasn\u2019t made.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also well documented that many leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, were too slow to respond to the pandemic, increasing its human and financial consequences. These failures exacerbated the damage suffered by other countries around the world. With economies struggling and sharply reduced tax revenues for the foreseeable future, how will the world pay for this calamity?….Foreignpolicy.com<\/a><\/p>\n