Richest 1% bag two-thirds of $42 trillion in new wealth: Oxfam

Charity requires extra taxes on the wealthy as World Financial Discussion board gathers for annual assembly in Davos, Switzerland.

Nighttime skyline of the Davos Congress Centre, the venue of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland.
The World Financial Discussion board is assembly in Davos, Switzerland, this week to debate points of world concern [File: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters]

The world’s high 1 % grabbed almost two-thirds of the $42 trillion in new wealth created since 2020, Oxfam says in a brand new report launched to coincide with the annual assembly of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland.

The share was nearly twice as a lot cash as the quantity obtained by the underside 99 % of the world’s inhabitants, in accordance with Oxfam’s “Survival of the Richest” report launched on Monday.

Billionaire fortunes are rising by $2.7bn a day, whereas no less than 1.7 billion employees now stay in nations the place inflation is outpacing wages, the report mentioned.

On the identical time, half of the world’s billionaires stay in nations with no inheritance tax for direct descendants, Oxfam mentioned, placing them on observe to cross on $5 trillion to their heirs, greater than the gross home product (GDP) of Africa.

Oxfam mentioned a 5 % tax on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires might elevate $1.7 trillion a 12 months, sufficient to raise 2 billion folks out of poverty.

Talking to Al Jazeera in Davos, Oxfam’s Government Director Gabriela Bucher referred to as the findings of the report “surprising”.

“It’s shameful that … one % of humanity is taking double the wealth of the entire 99 % mixed,” she mentioned.

“It outpaces what was taking place within the final 10 years – which was that they have been having half and half. So we are able to see that wealth accumulation is accelerating in the midst of this disaster that we’re going through globally,”  Bucher added.

“What we’re calling for is for nations to introduce new taxes and discussing in these nations what's honest … in sure nations like Nigeria or in India, we all know that wealth taxation may very well be a major change for the finances of the nation, and would allow them to take a position far more in well being and training – issues that matter to everybody.”

The annual assembly of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos brings collectively world enterprise and political leaders to debate political and financial points of world concern.

The summit, which takes place from Monday to Friday, can be attended by 52 heads of state and almost 600 CEOs.

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