03.06.2022
Taxing Extreme Wealth Could Lift 2.3 Billion People Out of Poverty
A new analysis published by the Fight Inequality Alliance, Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam, and Patriotic Millionaires found a shocking rise in global wealth among the world's richest people despite deepening inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally: 3.6 million people have over $5 million in wealth, with a combined wealth of $75.3 trillion. There are 2,660 billionaires with a total combined wealth of $13.76 trillion. (Forbes, November 30, 2021). An annual tax on the world's richest would be enough to lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty, make enough vaccines for the whole world, and deliver universal health care and social protection for all the citizens of low and lower middle-income countries (3.6 billion people). This latest rise in global wealth stands in stark contrast to loss of lives and jobs during the pandemic, which has pushed tens of millions more people into poverty and further increased inequalities, particularly in poorer nations around the world. As a new Oxfam report points out, inequality contributes to the deaths of more than 21,000 people each day. Meanwhile, the world's 500 richest people saw their wealth increase by $1 trillion last year. And here in the US, the combined wealth of our 745 billionaires has increased by over $2 trillion since the pandemic began. Credit: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
