The gap between rich and poor is widening, especially during the corona pandemic. Now even millionaires are in favor of a tax on the rich.
Berlin/Davos – A group of more than 100 millionaires from nine countries, together with international organizations, is calling for a wealth tax for the richest.
“Tax us, the rich, now,” the groups Patriotic Millionaires, Millionaires for Humanity and Tax Me Now urged governments to do, according to Oxfam.
This would help reduce extreme inequality and fund basic social services like public health and education, Oxfam said on Wednesday. Oxfam referred to an analysis according to which a tax volume of at least 2.5 trillion dollars (2.2 trillion euros) per year is possible.
Call for the “Davos Agenda”
The Patriotic Millionaires are publishing their letter on the occasion of the World Economic Forum’s “Davos Agenda” series of events. 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 that starts at just 2 percent a year for millionaires and rises to 5 percent a year for billionaires could bring in $2.52 trillion a year worldwide, it said. This would enable significant progress in poverty reduction, equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and general health care. The letter said the world had experienced great suffering over the past two years, while the richest have gotten richer and very few of them have paid taxes adequately. dpa
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