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.”
The wealth of the world’s 10 richest men doubled from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion during the pandemic, the global charity
“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.
The wealth of billionaires rose more since Covid started compared to the last 14 years, and a new billionaire was minted every 26 hours since the pandemic began, Oxfam said.
The CEOs of Covid vaccine-developers
One way to “claw back” the huge gains made by billionaires during the crisis is to tax the money that billionaires have made since the start of the pandemic, the report said.
“A 99% one-off windfall tax on the Covid-19 wealth gains of the 10 richest men alone would generate $812bn,” the report said.
