Over 200 ultra-rich people urge to be taxed to combat extreme inequity

Amid the volatile global economy, over 200 members of the super-rich elite have urged governments across the world to tax them in a bid to help the billions of people suffering a crisis due to rising living costs.

Disney heiress Abigail Disney and The Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo, among the group of 205 millionaires and billionaires, made the call on Wednesday.

They also urged the world leaders and corporate executives attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos to swiftly enact wealth taxes to combat the extreme inequality, reports some international news media.

In an open letter published on Wednesday, they said, “The current lack of action is gravely concerning. A meeting of the global elite in Davos to discuss cooperation in a fragmented world is pointless if you aren’t challenging the root cause of the division.”

Last year, a group of over 150 millionaires made the call on the elite attendees and governments around the world to tax them more.

The patriotic millionaires are self-described as a group of high-net-worth Americans who share a profound concern about the destabilizing level of inequality in America, according to reports of some Indian media.

In the letter entitled the cost of extreme wealth, the group of millionaires from 13 countries said, “The history of the last five decades is a story of wealth flowing nowhere but upwards. In the last few years, this trend has greatly accelerated …The solution is plain for all to see. You, our global representatives, have to tax us, the ultra-rich and you have to start now.”

The super-rich signatories, who refer to themselves as patriotic millionaires, sounded a note of caution about the consequences of inaction.

A recent study reveals that the richest 1 percent have received over two-thirds of the additional wealth created since the pandemic of coronavirus spread across the world.

Up to the end of 2021, the richest people have amassed US$26 trillion in new wealth, according to research by the development charity Oxfam, a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organisations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty.

The remaining 99 percent of persons received 63 percent of the total new wealth, it said.

According to Oxfam, the growth in extreme wealth is now matched for the first time in 25 years by an increase in extreme poverty.

And Oxfam is calling for additional taxes to be imposed on the ultra-rich people.

A tax of up to 5 percent on the world's multi-millionaires and billionaires, according to Oxfam, could collect $1.7 trillion annually which is enough to help two billion people escape poverty and pay for a worldwide strategy to eliminate hunger.