Oxfam on Covid inequality, tax rich to pay for vaccines, protect climate
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One pedestrian in a mask gives food to the homeless man sleeping on the pavement outside of central London’s shop.
Tolga Akmen | AFP | Getty Images
The pandemic has made the rich richer while the income of the rest of the world — about 99% of humanity — dropped, according to a new Oxfam report titled “Inequality Kills.”
During the pandemic and global charity, the wealth of the 10 world’s richest men doubled to $700 billion from $1.5 trillion said on Monday.
“It has never been so important to start righting the violent wrongs of this obscene inequality by clawing back elites’ power and extreme wealth including through taxation — getting that money back into the real economy and to save lives,” said Oxfam International’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher.
A 99% windfall tax on the pandemic gains of the world’s 10 richest men would raise enough money to pay for vaccines for the world — as well as finance various social measures for more than 80 countries, the report said.
According to Oxfam, the wealth of billionaires has increased more than the previous 14 years. A new billionaire is created every 26 hours since the pandemic started.
Covid-developer CEOs Moderna BioNTechIn 2020, made billions as a result of the pandemic.
The release stated that the majority of people are now worse off since losing their income in Covid-19. 160 million additional people have fallen into poverty.
Windfall tax
According to the report, one method to “reverse” the enormous gains of billionaires in the current crisis is to tax billionaires’ money made during that time.
According to the report, a single 99% windfall tax would be imposed on Covid-19 wealth gains only by 10 of the richest men. This alone could generate $812bn.
The report also indicated that the resources would be used to pay enough to produce vaccines worldwide, as well as to finance climate and universal health measures and social protection efforts, in addition to addressing gender-based violence in 80+ countries.
These ten men would be more wealthy than 99.999% of the rest of humanity if they lost 99.999% of their wealth today.
Gabriela Bucher
executive director, Oxfam International
According to the report, even with the tax, 10 of the richest men in the world would be still billionaires. This group would have risen their wealth by $8B since the beginning of the pandemic.
Bucher said, “If these ten people lost 99.999% of their wealth tomorrow,”
The report stated that governments should not only implement a windfall tax but also capital and permanent taxes in order to reduce inequality and “fundamentally” decrease wealth inequality.
Before this week’s virtual World Economic Forum, which will bring together world leaders to address global problems, Oxfam released the Oxfam Report.
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