NGOs propose a tax on the richest that would bring in 2.520 billion dollars

"As billions of people struggle to survive during this pandemic, the fortunes of billionaires are spinning out of control. This can't be fair," said Jenny Ricks, global coordinator of the activist movement Fight Inequality, in a statement. Alliance, one of the member organizations of the collective.

On Monday, an Oxfam report showed that the ten richest people on the planet, including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, had seen the value of their assets double to $1.5 trillion during the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. 19, thanks to the rise in stock prices of the companies in which they are shareholders.

Along with the Fight Inequality Alliance, the NGO Oxfam, the Institute for Policy Studies, based in Washington, and the Patriotic Millionaires, an organization of wealthy Americans, are participating in this appeal made public on Wednesday.

This set proposes the establishment of an annual tax of 2% for people with more than 5 million dollars, 3% for assets over 50 million dollars and 5% after a billion dollars, which would bring in 2.520 billion dollars each year.

With this sum, explains the collective, 2.3 billion people would be lifted out of poverty and all people on the planet could be vaccinated against Covid-19, while many countries are now showing levels hopelessly low vaccination rates, especially in Africa.

This jackpot would also offer universal health coverage and social protection to the 3.6 billion people living in low- and middle-income countries, says the collective.

A higher tax from 50 million dollars would raise up to 3.620 billion dollars a year, but Jenny Ricks told AFP that the choice of a lower level of taxation is more "realistic".

These proposals coincide with the traditional annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos (Switzerland), which is being held online for the second consecutive year due to the Omicron variant.

In an open letter to Forum attendees, more than 100 millionaires, including members of the Patriotic Millionaires, said Wednesday that the current tax system is "not fair."

"Every country in the world must demand that the rich pay their fair share," the letter reads.

"Tax us, the rich, and tax us now."

© 2022 AFP