Open letter to governments
“Tax us now!” More than 100 millionaires are calling for a wealth levy on the richest
Lots of dollars: According to the aid organization Oxfam, a tax for millionaires could bring in $2,520,000,000,000 a year worldwide.
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The gap between rich and poor has widened further during the corona crisis. Several groups of millionaires have therefore spoken out in an open letter in favor of a tax on the wealthy.
In view of the record profits of the super-rich in the wake of the corona pandemic, more than 100 millionaires have called for a permanent annual wealth tax for the richest. In an open letter, the groups Patriotic Millionaires, Millionaires for Humanity and Tax Me Now appealed to the governments: “Tax us, the rich, now!”, as the emergency aid organization Oxfam reports.
Wealth tax for millionaires could reduce inequality
The millionaires published their demand on the occasion of the World Economic Forum’s “Davos Agenda” series of events. The letter said the world had suffered greatly over the past two years because of the coronavirus pandemic, while the richest have gotten richer and very few, if any, have paid adequate taxes.
The signatories include American film producer and heiress Abigail Disney, Danish-Iranian entrepreneur Djaffar Shalchi, American entrepreneur and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, and Austrian student and BASF heiress Marlene Engelhorn.
A wealth tax on the richest could help reduce extreme inequality and fund basic social services, Oxfam said. Significant progress could be made on poverty alleviation, vaccine equity in the fight against coronavirus, and securing education and universal health coverage.
A new analysis, titled “Taxing Extreme Wealth,” shows that a wealth tax that starts at 2 percent a year for millionaires and rises to 5 percent a year for billionaires could generate $2.52 trillion a year worldwide, it said . This sum is enough to lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty, produce enough corona vaccines for the entire world population and ensure universal health care and social protection for 3.6 billion people in poorer countries.
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The analysis also shows that 3.6 million people worldwide have assets of more than five million dollars. Accordingly, her total wealth is $75.3 trillion. The study was presented by the Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam and the Patriotic Millionaires.