“Tax us!” The message is short and explicit. It was launched on Wednesday January 19 by a hundred millionaires in a letter [document en anglais] addressed to the World Economic Forum in Davos, a major annual gathering of the most influential leaders on the planet. Gemma McGough, a 40-year-old British self-made woman, founder of the English branch of the Patriotic Millionaires association, is at the origin of this call.
The text is titled “In tax we trust“, which means “we believe in taxes” in French. “It’s simple, summarizes the text, it’s the tax or the forks! If we continue to tax workers, via VAT, the increase in the cost of living, energy prices, etc. and that at the same time the mountains of money accumulated by the richest among us during this crisis escape taxation, we are heading straight for suffering”, explains Gemma McGough to the Guardian.
The wealth of the 10 richest men has doubled, while the incomes of 99% of humanity are worse off because of COVID19.
That’s a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day.
We desperate need a #WealthTax now. pic.twitter.com/FMoOp0a7qC
— Patriotic Millionaires (@PatrioticMills) January 19, 2022
Gemma McGough asks to look at the numbers and draw conclusions. From Forbes magazine to the NGO Oxfam, the observation is the same: the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic have made the rich richer and the poor poorer. “Honestly, explains the letter, We millionaires can say that while the world was going through a long period of suffering, we saw our wealth increase. And we also know, as millionaires, that tax systems are not fair. Hence our request: tax us, tax us now.”
The Patriotic Millionaires put forward a simple calculation: in the United Kingdom, households whose wealth exceeds 4 million euros represent only 1% of taxpayers. Raising their taxes by 5% would release 70 billion for schools, hospitals or the police.
Gemma McGough hasn’t just found out: she’s been campaigning for a wealth tax for years. In 2022, it is on its third letter. The text is signed by a hundred millionaires and billionaires, including headliners like the heir to the Disney empire. Gemma McGough, she holds her fortune from a start-up sold for several million, money with which she launched a charitable foundation. But, to redistribute well, she judges that it is not enough. “With my husband, we were lucky. We succeeded, we are in the club and we want to do our part. It’s just a question of fairness.”