The concentration of wealth has increased in 2018, 26 billionaires now in their hands as much money as the poorest half of humanity, denounced Monday the NGO Oxfam, which calls on states to tax the richer.
Anger. „The widening gap between rich and poor hampers the fight against poverty, harms the economy and fuels global anger,“ said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, quoted in the press release. Governments „need to ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay their share of taxes,“ she added when Oxfam’s traditional annual report on global inequalities was released ahead of World Economic Forum (WEF) held until Friday in Davos.
According to the figures of the NGO, whose methodology, which relies on the data published by Forbes magazine and the bank Credit Suisse, is disputed by some economists, 26 people now have as much money as the 3, 8 billion poorest people on the planet. In 2017, they were 43. As for the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, the boss of Amazon, his wealth reached 112 billion dollars last year. But, „the health budget of Ethiopia is 1% of his fortune,“ said the NGO.
Taxation levels „the lowest in decades“. In general, world billionaires‘ wealth increased by $ 900 billion last year, at a rate of $ 2.5 billion per day, while that of the poorest half of the world’s population dropped by 11%, she said. The number of billionaires has doubled since the financial crisis of 2008, said Oxfam, noting that „the rich have not only a fortune in full expansion, but also the lowest levels of taxation in decades“ .
„If the trend were reversed, most governments would have enough resources to finance public services,“ said the NGO that believes that „wealth is particularly under-taxed.“ She said that on a dollar of income tax, only four cents come from the taxation of wealth. According to Oxfam, which estimates that the richest are hiding $ 7.6 trillion in taxes, in some countries like Brazil or the United Kingdom, „the poorest 10% now pay higher taxes in proportion to their income than the most rich“.
Debates on the taxation of large fortunes in several countries. This report is published at a time when taxation of the largest fortunes is provoking debate in several countries. In France, the movement of yellow vests has revived the debate on the elimination of the ISF by Emmanuel Macron. In the United States, newly-elected Democrat MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has proposed to tax 70% of the richest, with the support of Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman.
