Inequality Report | Getting richer, getting poorer…

A new report reveals abysmal inequalities between the richest and poorest people on the planet. Oxfam advocates for a wealth tax.

Jean-Christophe Laurence
The Press

Forget fantasies of an improved post-coronavirus world. Contrary to the predictions of some, the pandemic has not solved humanity’s most pressing problems.

Oxfam’s new inequality report confirms this: due to COVID-19, the gap between rich and poor has widened to an alarming level. A clear statement, which only political decisions could make it possible to mitigate, in particular with a wealth tax.

We learn that the fortunes of the 10 richest men on the planet have doubled over the past year, from 700 billion to 1500 billion US dollars, an increase of $15,000 per second, or 1.3 billion per second. day.

At the same time, the incomes of 99% of humanity have diminished due to the consequences linked to the pandemic and to “vaccine apartheid”, which deprived poorer countries of adequate health protection. According to the report, these inequalities currently cause the death of one person every four minutes. Women and racialized people would be the first victims of this planetary chaos caused by the coronavirus.

Oxfam is not short of images to illustrate this indecency. The body points out that the fortunes of the 10 richest men, if stacked in small denominations, would rise halfway to the Moon. It is added that if these billionaires lost 99.999% of their assets, they would still remain richer than 99% of humanity.

This reality is largely due to the resumption of economic growth in rich countries, favored by good vaccination coverage and the appearance of new fortunes favored by the pandemic.

Half a dozen new billionaires have thus emerged in the pharmaceutical industry, such as the CEO of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, as well as Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, respectively CEO and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of BioNTech.

But other sectors are also doing well. The fortunes of technology giants like Google and Facebook have jumped exponentially. In India, the fortune of billionaire Gautam Adani has increased eightfold. Without forgetting Elon Musk, “the richest man in the world”, or the boss of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, who notably paid for the luxury of a trip to space in the midst of a global pandemic.

For Oxfam, it is vital for the rest of the world that these extreme fortunes are put to use.

Momentum for a “solidarity” tax

According to the organization, governments must act now to “recover the colossal profits” made by billionaires during the pandemic, by putting in place exceptional solidarity taxes, which would release “the billions needed to fight against inequalities”.

The analyzes carried out in more than 60 countries, with the collaboration of the Wealth X company, make it possible to specify the advantages of such a political choice.

“We now know that in many cases, this would allow governments to double their health budgets. In Canada, for example, we could increase it by 57%,” underlines Catherine Caron, analyst, policies and campaigns, at Oxfam.

The idea is more than attractive. But is it realistic? The movement has already begun, answers M^me Because we.

We are not there yet, far from it. But the Liberals are making moves in that direction. The government is working to introduce a tax on luxury goods, while on the election campaign, Justin Trudeau promised to raise taxes for large financial institutions and insurance companies that have made significant profits during the pandemic.

The idea is also gaining ground elsewhere. Last year, despite a few hiccups, Argentina collected 2.8 billion thanks to its “solidarity and extraordinary” tax on wealth. And if the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) considers the tool “not effective”, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), sees it as a good way to cover the costs of the pandemic.

Sign of the times: even some rich people agree. The Patriotic Millionaires movement, in the United States, and Resources in motion, in Canada, militate in this direction, while big fortunes like Warren Buffett, Abigail Disney and Bill Gates say they are in favor of the concept.

“It’s not really an idea of ​​left-wing activists anymore. There is a momentum, ”says Catherine Caron.

In another vein, Oxfam is finally calling for the lifting of patents that will make vaccines available to populations in poorer countries and will allow a form of health rebalancing between North and South. A hundred countries have offered their support for this waiver proposal, but Canada has not yet made a formal decision.

The emergence of the Omicron variant, which came from southern Africa, demonstrated that this “vaccine apartheid” could turn against rich countries. Protection must be global, otherwise the next world will continue to be “the same, only worse”, to quote the predictions of the French writer Michel Houellebecq.