Davos, Switzerland – The world's five richest men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020, charity Oxfam revealed on Monday, urging nations to resist the influence of the ultra-rich over tax policy.
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A report from the organization, published this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, stated that the wealth of the richest men in the world (including Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet) increased from 405 billion of dollars in 2020 to 869 billion last year.
However, Since 2020, almost 5 billion people around the world have become poorerOxfam stressed.
Billionaires are $3.3 billion richer today than in 2020despite the many crises that have devastated the global economy since this decade began, including the covid-19 pandemic.
Oxfam's annual report on global inequality is traditionally published just before the forum opens in the Swiss Alpine resort.
The charity raised concerns about rising global inequality, with richer people and companies accumulating greater wealth – thanks to rising share prices – and also more power.
“Corporate power is used to drive inequality. It squeezes workers and enriches rich shareholders, dodging taxes and privatizing the state,” Oxfam stressed.
He also accused corporations of driving “inequality by waging a sustained and highly effective war on taxes,” with far-reaching consequences.
Oxfam indicated that States handed power to monopolies, allowing corporations to influence the wages paid to peoplethe prices of food and medicines that people can access.
“Around the world, members of the private sector are relentlessly pushing for lower rates, less transparency and other measures aimed at allowing companies to contribute as little as possible to public coffers,” Oxfam added.
The organization specified that thanks to intense lobbying on the formulation of fiscal policies, corporations have been able to pay lower corporate taxesthus depriving governments of money that could be used to support the poorest in society.
Corporate taxes decreased significantly in OECD countries, from 48% in 1980 to 23.1% in 2022, Oxfam highlighted.
To address the imbalance, Oxfam called for a wealth tax on the world's millionaires and billionaires which it claims could bring in $1.8 trillion each year.
The charity also called for capping the pay of CEOs of big companies and breaking up private monopolies.
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