According to a report titled “Inequality Kills” by new Oxfam, The pandemic has made the rich richer while the income of the rest of the world at about 99% of humanity dropped.
Due to the Pandemic, the wealth of the world’s 10 richest men doubled from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion during the pandemic.
A 99% windfall tax on the pandemic gains of the world’s 10 richest men would raise enough money to pay for vaccines for the world, as well as finance various social measures for more than 80 countries.
The wealth of billionaires rose more since Covid started compared to the last 14 years, and a new billionaire was minted every 26 hours since the pandemic began, Oxfam said.
The CEOs of Covid vaccine-developers Moderna and BioNTech made billions in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
At the same time, the vast majority of the population are worse off after losing income during Covid-19, and 160 million more people fell into poverty, the release said.
One way to “clawback” the huge gains made by billionaires during the crisis is to tax the money that billionaires have made since the start of the pandemic, the report said.
“A 99% one-off windfall tax on the Covid-19 wealth gains of the 10 richest men alone would generate $812bn,” the report said.
Even after the tax, the world’s 10 richest men would still be billionaires and as a group, would have increased their wealth by $8 billion from the start of the pandemic, the report said.
– CNBC