Posted at 12:00 p.m.
In this month of January, we face the beginning of a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic under the sign of the Omicron variant with a certain weariness, even exhaustion. There is, however, a small part of the world’s population who would have every reason to rub their hands (with or without Purell): the billionaires.
Since the start of this pandemic, their bank accounts have filled up at a spectacular rate. A new report from Oxfam released today says the world’s 10 richest men saw their fortunes double from US$700 billion to US$1.5 trillion at the rate of US$1.3 billion a day. You read that right: 1 billion. Per day. In fact, all billionaires have seen their fortunes increase more during the pandemic than in the past 14 years. Canada is no exception: the wealth of billionaires has increased by 57% ($87.4 billion).
It is sometimes said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result. If this is true, there is cause for concern for the leaders of the main world powers who continue, year after year, to maintain an economic system marked by extreme inequalities.
We recall it here: this globalized injustice is a political choice. The attitude of rich countries towards COVID-19 vaccines is a perfect illustration of this.
The main powers have accumulated a maximum of doses to the detriment of the less fortunate countries. The announced failure of this strategy resulted in countless deaths across the world that could have been avoided and here we are now grappling with the Omicron variant and its ravages.
Deadly inequalities
While the ultra-rich travel through space in private rockets (perhaps hoping to discover a new tax haven at the bend of an asteroid), here on planet Earth, inequality kills. They kill in particular by preventing entire populations from having access to health care or from fighting against extreme climatic events. They particularly kill women, people of color and marginalized communities, keeping them in precarious working conditions and violent environments.
These deplorable deaths and these indecent fortunes are inextricably linked. They are explained by the violence of a system where stock market speculation, tax evasion and monopoly situations are trivialized.
Seen like this, the portrait of our globalized economy may seem very bleak. However, solutions do exist. One of the most direct is through taxes. Ambitious domestic and international tax reform is essential to tackle these deadly inequalities. New rules that redistribute wealth and power more equitably would fund an economy that benefits everyone, including through public services.
In Canada, a gradual annual tax on the wealth of multi-millionaires and billionaires could bring in $79 billion a year, enough to increase the health budget by 57%.
It’s time for action. A majority of Canadians think wealth inequality should be tackled by raising taxes on the wealthiest and big business1. Recognizing this new deal, most parties proposed some form of wealth taxation in the last federal election.2. The current Canadian government has shown signs of openness on the subject locally and internationally, but these must now be accompanied by more courageous measures.
The spectacular wealth that billionaires have experienced since the start of the pandemic is only the latest variant of a deeply deregulated economy. This “billionaire variant” only benefits a handful of individuals and harms the rest of humanity. By better taxing wealth today, we can limit the development of this regrettable change in our economic system and build together a future with equality.
* Co-signers: Katrina Miller, Executive Director of Canadians for Tax Fairness; Shawn-Patrick Stensil, director of programs for Greenpeace Canada; Jen Hassum, CEO of the Broadbent Institute; Jennifer Carr, President of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada; Sylvie Trottier, member of Resources in motion