“Crises make wealth grow”
Oxfam calls for super-rich tax
01/16/2023 01:06 am
While many people don’t know how to pay for groceries and rent, the rich are getting richer in recent crises. The aid organization Oxfam warns that the “biggest increase in global inequality since the Second World War” is underway – and makes a clear demand.
The aid organization Oxfam is demanding higher taxes on wealth and “excessive profits” from governments worldwide as a result of the corona pandemic and inflation in order to stop the rapid increase in poverty and hunger. 828 million people are starving worldwide, the organization said in a report published on the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos. For the first time in 25 years, extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased simultaneously.
(Photo: dpa)
In order to combat the increase in inequality, Oxfam Germany is therefore calling on the federal government to siphon off “excessive crisis profits from corporations” through an excess profit tax. In addition, the wealth tax in Germany must be levied again and a one-time levy on “very high assets” must be collected.
The resulting additional government revenue would have to be invested in “the expansion of education, health and social security systems and the strengthening of women’s rights”. To this end, funds for development cooperation should also be increased.
“Giant Wealth Gains for Billionaires”
According to Oxfam, since the beginning of the corona pandemic, the richest one percent of the world’s population has received around two-thirds of global wealth growth. At the same time, 1.7 billion workers live in countries where inflation is currently higher than wage increases.
95 food and energy companies more than doubled their profits in 2022 and posted $306 billion in excess profits, Oxfam continued. At the same time, the world is experiencing “probably the greatest increase in global inequality and poverty since the Second World War,” criticized the aid organization, citing World Bank data.
“While millions of people do not know how to pay for food and energy, the crises of our time bring gigantic wealth increases for billionaires,” said Manuel Schmitt, officer for social inequality at Oxfam Germany. Corporations and their “super-rich” main owners should “finally make their fair contribution to the common good”.