The rich just keep getting richer. A new Oxfam International report found that the top global 1% has amassed $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade.
To make you feel even more broke, that’s nearly 34 times more than the wealth of the entire bottom 50% of the world’s population, according to the analysis released by the organization ahead of the third meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“Inequality has reached obscene levels, and until now governments have failed to protect people and planet from its catastrophic effects,” said Oxfam International’s head of inequality policy, Max Lawson.
“The richest one percent of humanity continues to fill their pockets while the rest are left to scrap for crumbs.”
#G20 countries agreed to cooperate to tax the ultra-rich.
According to @Oxfam, the richest 1% have amassed $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade, nearly 34 times more than the entire bottom 50% of the world’s population.@Reuters @ayresmhttps://t.co/8lHnicDNtD
— Oxfam International Media Team (@newsfromoxfam) July 26, 2024
The report found that the average wealth per person in the top 1% rose by nearly $400,000 over the last decade compared to just $335 for a person in the bottom half.
These findings come as G20 finance ministers are expected to lay out the plans for a global deal to increase taxes on the super-rich.
“Championed by the Brazilian G20 Presidency and backed by countries including South Africa, Spain and France, the proposal comes amid growing public demand for measures to rein in extreme levels of inequality and ensure that the rich pay their fair share,” states the report.
Oxfam has calculated that less than eight cents in every dollar raise in tax revenue in G20 countries now comes from taxes on wealth.
Its research also found that the share of income of the top 1% of earners in G20 countries has risen by 45% over four decades, all while top tax rates on their incomes were cut by roughly a third.
“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 that puts the needs of the many before the greed of an elite few?” said Lawson.
According to the report, billionaires around the world have been paying a tax rate equivalent to less than 0.5% of their wealth.
Additionally, their fortunes have risen by an annual average of 7.1% over the last four decades. Oxfam says an annual net wealth tax of at least 8% would be needed to reduce billionaires’ extreme wealth.
G20 countries are home to nearly four out of five of the world’s billionaires. In Canada, one family tops most lists of the world’s richest people.