- According to a new report, a one-time 99% tax on the earnings of global billionaires during the pandemic can pay for the vaccine for everyone.
- The remaining money can give every unemployed worker in the world 20,000 US dollars (R290,000).
- The one-time wealth tax is considered a potential solution to promote economic recovery and address inequality.
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During the pandemic, the wealth of global billionaires increased by approximately US$5.5 trillion (approximately R79 trillion)-a 99% tax on these proceeds may help vaccinate the world.
This is based on a New report From Oxfam, the Alliance for Eliminating Inequality, and the Leftist Policy Research and Patriotic Millionaire Institute.
The analysis uses Forbes real-time data to track net assets and looks at the impact of potential one-time taxes on the earnings of billionaires in the pandemic era. The report found that the wealth of 2,690 billionaires worldwide has increased by a staggering number. Since March 2020, their cumulative wealth has increased more than in the past 15 years.
This adds up to a cumulative net worth of US$13.5 trillion (approximately R195 trillion), which marks an increase of US$5.5 trillion (approximately R79 trillion), or nearly 69%, since the pandemic first broke out. They hold 8 trillion U.S. dollars (about 116 trillion rand).
“The wealth of billionaires is not earned. Billionaires are profiting from the hard work and pain of the working people. Their money is’earned’ with your sweat. Now is the time for the sweat to start paying off. “The Pan-African Coordinator of Fighting Inequality, Njoki Njehu Alliance, said in a statement.
According to the report, this 99% one-time tax will bring in 5.4 trillion U.S. dollars (approximately 79 trillion rand), while billionaires still hold 55 billion U.S. dollars (approximately 797 trillion rand) during the pandemic. .
The cost of vaccination calculated by the author is USD 7 per dose (approximately 101 rand), This means that the total cost of vaccinating the world is 70 billion U.S. dollars (approximately 1 trillion rand), which is only a small part of the trillion-dollar wealth acquired by these billionaires.
Currently, according to Our data world, Only 1.2% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Nature Report The poorest countries will not be vaccinated at the current expected rate until 2023.
The report proposes that the remaining funds raised by the wealth tax will be used for unemployed workers.The ILO found Report 220 million people are unemployed worldwide. According to analysis, giving them all of US$20,000 (approximately R290,000) will cost US$4.4 trillion (approximately R64 trillion), which is completely within the amount remaining after global vaccination.
Wealth tax has become a solution to the inequality of the epidemic
Taxing the wealthiest members of society has been suggested as a potential solution to pandemic inequality-it has gained support from more mainstream institutions and countries.
In April, the International Monetary Fund support Taxes on wealthy people and companies are an option to help the pandemic economy recover.Argentina went one step further and developed its own one time A wealth tax is levied on 0.8% of the richest population.Money from taxes-brought US$2.4 billion (About R43 billion)-Will be used for housing, public health and other sectors affected by the pandemic.
“It’s time for a bold and meaningful strike on these inequalities,” Chuck Collins, director of the Inequality and Common Goods Program at the Policy Research Institute, told Insider. “There is no more extreme example of the dangers of billionaires’ excess wealth to the plight of ordinary people than we have seen now. People know this. So I think bold measures — bold wealth taxes — come Reversing the inequality will be widely supported by the public.”
