By Oxfam is calling on the government to impose an 8% annual net wealth tax on the richest in the world, who, in the last ten years, have built up $42 trillion in new wealth. This comes into the limelight after the latest analysis by Oxfam showed striking contrasts in the growth of wealth among the ultra-wealthy and the poorest people in the world.
A recent report by Oxfam reports that this new wealth of the top 1% in the past decade has reached nearly 34 times the aggregate total wealth of the bottom half of the world's population. Meanwhile, the average wealth per person in the top 1% surged almost $400,000 in real terms, while those in the bottom half gained just $335—or less than nine cents per day. It argues that billionaires still manage to pay an average rate of less than 0.5 percent on their accumulated wealth, even while their fortunes grew at an annual average rate of 7.1 percent over the last forty years.
Events this week will include a meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Rio de Deceiro, Brazil, who are expected to debate a landmark global agreement in targeting ultra-rich people with increased taxes. That would meet growing public demands for action on extreme inequality and fair tax contributions from the rich. Under the Presidency of Brazil and active support from countries like South Africa, Spain, and France, the G20 is hosting almost 80% of the world's billionaires.
Max Lawson, Inequality Policy Lead at Oxfam International, highlighted just how huge the coming talks would be: "Momentum to increase taxes on the super-rich is undeniable, and this week is the first real litmus test for G20 governments. Do they have the political will to strike a global standard which puts the needs of the many before the greed of an elite few?"
This means that surprisingly, the report shows Statista recording South Africa as the country with the highest income inequality, closely followed by Namibia in 2023.
Notwithstanding all of these, the United States still opposes this annual 8% wealth tax, according to verification from an AFP.