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The five richest people in the world have more than doubled their wealth since 2020. According to the charity Oxfam, 60 percent of the population, who are among the poorest, have now lost money. The report, which calls for a wealth tax on international society, comes as the world’s richest people meet at the World Economic Forum.
An Oxfam report highlighted by the Guardian says the gap between rich and poor is likely to widen, leading to the first “billionaire” within ten years. The prospects for the sixty percent of the world’s population who belong to the poorest sections are considerably worse. If current trends continue, poverty will be eradicated for at least 229 years.
Oxfam points out that the dramatic rise in inequality coincided with the start of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the survey, the world’s billionaires are now $3.3 trillion (the equivalent of more than 74 trillion crowns) richer than in 2020, and their wealth is growing three times faster than the rate of inflation.
Report from Inequality Inc. reports that seven of the world’s ten largest companies have a billionaire CEO or major shareholder, even as living standards for millions of employees worldwide are declining.
According to research firm Wealth, the fortunes of Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg increased by 114 percent.
During the same period, the total wealth of 4.77 billion people fell by 0.2 percent. “Around the world, people are working harder and longer, often for low pay and in precarious and dangerous conditions,” say the study authors. In 52 countries, the average real wages of almost eight hundred million workers fell. They have lost a total of $1.5 trillion in the last two years. On average, everyone receives almost a month’s salary less than before, reports the Guardian.
The report shows that corporate profits have risen sharply despite pressure on households from the cost of living crisis. The world’s 148 largest companies earned a combined net profit of $1.8 trillion in the year ended June 2023, a 52 percent increase compared to average net profits between 2018 and 2021.
In a report, Oxfam calls for a wealth tax to restore balance between workers and bosses and entrepreneurs.
In the case of Britain, introducing a levy would raise around £22 billion a year for the exchequer if a tax rate of 1 to 2 percent were applied to net assets over £10 million.
Julia Davies, an investor and founding member of the non-partisan UK millionaires group Patriotic Millionaires, said the wealth levy was “negligible” compared to the tax on earned income. “Imagine what £22 billion a year could invest in public services and infrastructure. The money would improve the lives of all of us in the UK and give our older, young and vulnerable people the care and support they need. “I deserve it,” she added.
According to the latest Gini index, a coefficient measuring inequality in society, the global income gap is comparable to South Africa, the most unequal country in the world.
One percent of the world’s richest people own more than half of all financial assets – including stocks, bonds and stakes in private companies. In the UK, the richest one percent own 36.5 percent of all financial assets worth £1.8 trillion.
“Extreme poverty in the poorest countries remains higher than before the pandemic, yet a small number of ‘super-rich’ men are vying to become the world’s first billionaire in the next decade,” said Oxfam executive director Aleema Shivji.
“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is neither accidental nor inevitable. Governments around the world are making conscious policy decisions that enable and support this distorted concentration of wealth while hundreds of millions of people live in poverty. A fairer economy that works for all of us is possible. We need common policies that ensure fairer taxation and support for all, not just the privileged,” Shivji added.
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