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Over the weekend, world leaders of the G20 formally agreed to a new minimum tax rate of 15% for corporations earning €750 million plus a year. The agreement will become law by 2023, with the European Commission set to start working on it next year.

This tax agreement is an important step forward – one of many needed to close the damaging wealth inequality gaps that divide 1% of the world’s richest from the rest of us. In practice, it will bring in €48 billion in additional tax revenue per year in the EU. The Italian G20 slogan is “People. Planet. Prosperity.” But in light of the recent Pandora Papers, does this deal really do enough to support the 3 Ps and hold the wealthy to account?

A resolution adopted by the European Parliament in October indicates that up to €190 billion is lost to corporate tax avoidance and other tax arrangements. According to the EU Tax Observatory, about €2.3 trillion (literally the amount of the EU’s 2021-2027 budget) is held offshore. The lid has been ripped off Pandora’s box, and world leaders need to act fast.

Does this deal speak to the needs on the ground?

During COVID-19 we’ve heard about the rich getting richer, while about 92.4 million people in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion: from increased youth unemployment, to LGBTIQ youth experiencing homelessness, to Roma who continue to face huge health inequalities, and women who are more vulnerable to energy poverty.

Our current tax system, that clearly only benefits a select few, is well overdue a rewrite. A reformed tax system would free up billions of euros of hoarded wealth and reinject it back into the economy to go towards life-saving social protection and social services. Imagine a world where people can safely access affordable services when they need, like long-term care, unemployment services and affordable social housing.

We are only now beginning to scrape the surface of the world’s untapped wealth, but so much more is needed. Calls have been made by the United Nations and the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation for a minimum corporate tax rate of between 20%-30%. While the G20’s promises fall short of this, the EU and Member States can push for much more ambitious tax reforms by making sure that there is greater accountability, fairness and redistribution of wealth in our society. It’s time to show that all people are valued, not just a select wealthy few.