’Rest are left to scrap for crumbs’ – World’s top 1% have collected 34 times the wealth of the bottom 50%: Oxfam report

A new Oxfam analysis has revealed a staggering wealth disparity. It shows that the world's richest 1 per cent have amassed a staggering $42 trillion in wealth over the past decade—nearly 34 times greater than the combined wealth of the poorest 50 per cent of the global population. The Oxfam analysis comes just ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The report revealed that the average wealth of a person in the top 1 per cent of the population increased by almost $400,000 in real terms in the last ten years compared to just $335. This equals an increase of less than nine cents per day for a person in the bottom half.

“Inequality has reached obscene levels, and until now, governments have failed to protect people and (the) planet from its catastrophic effects,” Oxfam International’s Head of Inequality Policy, Max Lawson, said. “The richest one per cent of humanity continues to fill their pockets while the rest are left to scrap for crumbs," he said.

Presently, billionaires pay taxes at a rate of less than 0.5 per cent of their wealth which has risen by an annual average of 7.1 per cent over the last four decades. To reduce the extreme fortunes collected by billionaires, an annual net wealth tax of 8 percent will be required. The report said the G20 countries host almost four out of five of the world’s billionaires.

The G20 summit in Brazil aims to achieve international cooperation on taxing the super-rich. According to reports, at this week's summit in Rio de Janeiro, G20 finance ministers will focus on charging the ultrarich and examine measures to prevent them from avoiding taxes.

Oxfam’s analysis also found that the income share of the top 1 per cent of the earning population in G20 countries has increased by 45 per cent over forty years whereas tax rates on their incomes were cut by roughly a third.

"Momentum to increase taxes on the super-rich is undeniable," Oxfam International's head of inequality policy, Max Lawson, said. He added, “Do they have the political will to strike a global standard that puts the needs of the many before the greed of an elite few?”

Increasing taxes for the wealthiest will be a “real litmus test for G20 government," Oxfam said.

Oxfam suggested that G-20 countries implement an annual net wealth tax of at least eight percent on the “extreme wealth” of the richest population.