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Law360 (May 20, 2021, 6:54 PM EDT) -- The U.S. infrastructure plan presented by President Joe Biden, along with reform of global tax rules, would provide enough money to vaccinate everyone at risk from the coronavirus, a U.K. tax-fairness advocacy group said in a study issued Thursday.
The combined cash could help end the pandemic, according to research from Church Action for Tax Justice that highlighted the Made in America financing portion of the infrastructure package. Biden's proposed 21% global minimum tax for U.S.-based multinational companies is crucial to pandemic relief, the study said.
It cited a finding, released in April just after Biden detailed his plan, from the U.K.-based Tax Justice Network that the initiative could generate $640 billion in extra U.S. aid funding to other countries when combined with revamped international tax rules.
Church Action for Tax Justice said its report analyzed the impact that $640 billion could have on 34 of the world's poorest countries, including pandemic-ravaged India. The money would be sufficient for nearly every country to vaccinate all those most at risk of contracting a severe form of COVID-19, the respiratory ailment caused by the coronavirus.
"In this way, this reformed tax plan could help bring an end to the pandemic," the group said in a statement accompanying the report.
It said COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, a body set up at the start of the pandemic by the World Health Organization to provide vaccines to poorer countries, is underfunded. In addition, poorer countries need to find resources to fund vaccine distribution within their borders.
Money generated by a 21% global minimum corporate tax combined with a global minimum effective tax rate under discussion could fund COVAX and ensure many lower-income countries have enough funds to vaccinate at least 20% of their populations, the study said. The figure represents the proportion of the population at risk of severe COVID-19 — front-line health and social services workers, people 65 and older, and those with underlying health conditions.
"The failure of wealthier nations to provide vaccine coverage in lower-income countries is not just a moral scandal, it is also a national one," said Justin Thacker, director of Church Action for Tax Justice.
He said proposals outlined in the report point a way for the world's biggest corporations to "step up and help end this pandemic." Thacker added, "The first act of philanthropy is to pay your taxes, and national governments now have a mechanism to make that happen."
The group describes itself as an ecumenical movement of individuals and churches who believe their faith calls them to challenge economic injustice. It is a program of the London-based Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility.
--Editing by Neil Cohen.
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