The 1% of the population collect more than half of the world’s wealth

On Sunday, the humanitarian organization Oxfam advocated raising taxes on billionaires to combat inequality, poverty and climate change, denouncing the report as follows: American businessman Elon Musk has a lower tax burden than a shopkeeper in Uganda.

Launched to coincide with the first day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the report titled “The Survival of the Rich” reveals that 63% of all new wealth created since 2020, worth $42 trillion (€39 billion), benefited just 1% of world population. The amount is twice the money earned by the rest of the world’s population (99%).

in the past decade, This 1% combined into nearly half of all new wealth generated.

According to the study, millionaires increase their wealth by $2.7 billion (2.5 billion euros) daily, at a time when the world is affected by the crisis of the high cost of living, as inflation grows more than wages.

The Oxfam report gives the example of Elon Muskthe American entrepreneur (of South African origin) in the technology sector and the founder of the electric car manufacturer Tesla, one of the richest men in the world, who claims to have paid an amount The “real tax rate” was about 3% between 2014 and 2018.

On the contrary, according to the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Upper Christine, a flour seller in Uganda, earns $80 (€74) a month and pays a 40% tax.

In the document known on Sunday, the Oxfam is urging the world’s governments to impose an extraordinary solidarity tax on billionaires To combat the “explosion of inequality” that we have seen in recent years.

organization suggests Permanently raise taxes on the rich to at least 60% Income from work and capital, with higher rates for business leaders.

In particular, Oxfam Supporters of increases in capital gains taxesinheritance, contributions to property and land, and taxes on net worth.

An analysis by the Anti-Inequality Coalition, the Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam and National Millionaires concluded that an annual wealth tax of up to 5% on billionaires and millionaires worldwide could raise $1.7 trillion ($1.57 billion). million euros) annually.

The revenues, the entities estimate, will be enough to lift two billion people out of poverty.cover missing amounts from existing humanitarian appeals, implement a 10-year plan to end hunger, support the poorest countries affected by climate change, and ensure universal health care and social protection for all people living in low- and middle-income countries.

“Taxing the ultra-rich is the way out of the current simultaneous crisesargued Oxfam International’s Executive Director, Gabriella Bucher, who rejects the “convenient myth that tax cuts for the rich allow their wealth to benefit others in some way economically.”

The World Economic Forum in Davos, which annually brings together personalities from business, politics and diplomacy, starts today with the theme “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” and runs until Friday.