The UK-based charity Oxfam International released a report last January 21 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, stating that 26 of the richest people in the world have the same wealth as the poorest half of the global population.
In 2018, the billionaires increased their wealth by approximately $2.5bn per day while those on the bottom scale declined 11 per cent in their wealth, according to the report. Given this finding, the charity urged governments to raise taxes on the wealthy to fight inequality.
“Governments must now deliver real change by ensuring corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of tax,” said Oxfam’s executive director Winnie Byanyima.
Oxfam also said that increasing the tax of these billionaires by just 0.5 per cent actually means a lot to raise money to ‘educate more than 262 million children and provide healthcare for 3.3 million people.’
The charity used Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos’ wealth of $112bn as an example, that only the elite can billionaires can enjoy. Eutopia’s health budget for a country with 105 million population is just 1 per cent of Bezos’ wealth.
The concentration of Wealth for Elite
According to an article published by the Aljazeera News, analysts have found out that 3.4 billion people suffer extreme poverty, with less than $5.50 a day to survive. In light with this, the gap between the poor and the rich widens, continually damaging economies.
“Our economy is broken with hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top,” stated the UK-based charity.
For the economy to work with everyone and not just a few ‘privileged’, Oxfam urged governments to have fundamental change and even create wealth tax to help fund better public services.
