WASHINGTON - Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates appears poised to endorse the adoption of a controversial financial transactions tax (FTT) to be used as a new source of development aid for poor countries.
Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates appears poised to endorse the adoption of a controversial financial transactions tax (FTT) to be used as a new source of development aid for poor countries. (photo: REUTERS/Paul Hackett)Such an endorsement, to be included in a report to the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Cannes in November, will likely boost efforts by summit's host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to persuade other countries, particularly in the European Union (EU), to impose such a tax, said activists who have long advocated what some of them call a "Robin Hood tax".
It was Sarkozy who last February asked Gates to prepare a report for the upcoming summit on new ways that money could be raised to promote development and alleviate poverty in poor countries, particularly in light of the sharp cuts in official development assistance (ODA) from many donor countries that followed the 2008-9 financial crisis.
"The report will acknowledge the controversy around the proposal, … but will make the case for a substantial allocation to development," according to a "Technical Note" on the report that will be presented Friday to officials gathered here for the annual World Bank- International Monetary Fund meetings.
"If G20 members or some other set of countries (e.g., within the EU), can agree on the outlines of an FTT, Bill's report is likely to argue, it could generate substantial resources," according to the Note which was attributed to Geoffrey Lamb, the senior advisor on international policy development at the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
