Released on Monday, Oxfam’s Survival of the Richest report has shown that the richest 1 per cent of Australians gained 10 times more wealth than the bottom 50 per cent over the past decade, with the richest Australians accumulating $2,500 each second for 10 years straight. Extreme wealth and extreme poverty have also increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years.
The report also found that COVID-19 was a boon for billionaires, with their collective wealth increasing 61 per cent since the pandemic began, as well as 11 new billionaires joining their ranks since 2020.
It’s not just Australia that has seen the rich get richer, with the fortunes of billionaires around the globe increasing by $3.6 billion a day. According to the report, the top 1 per cent globally made almost twice as much money in the last two years as the rest of the world combined.
The fortunes of billionaires around the globe are increasing by $3.6 billion a day while more than 1.7 billion workers live in countries where inflation is now outpacing wages.
Oxfam Australia’s director of programs Anthea Spinks said the enormous gains seen by the world’s richest people were stark evidence of a broken system.
“While ordinary people in Australia and around the world are making daily sacrifices on essentials like food, the super-rich have outdone even their wildest dreams. Just two years in, this decade is shaping up to be the best yet for billionaires — a roaring ’20s boom for the world’s richest,” she said.
Considering the growing disparity and rising inflation hitting low-income earners harder, Oxfam has urged the federal government to scrap the stage three tax cuts.
In its place, Oxfam has suggested a systemic and wide-ranging increase in taxation of the super-rich, including a wealth tax and a windfalls tax on corporations, which the not-for-profit said would “claw back gains some companies have made on the back of crises and suffering, such as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine”.
According to Oxfam, a wealth tax of 2 per cent on those above $7 million, 3 per cent with wealth above $67 million and 5 per cent on Australian billionaires alone would raise $29.1 billion dollars annually.
“Decades of tax cuts for the richest people and corporations have fuelled inequality at home and across the globe, with the poorest people paying higher tax rates than many high-flying CEOs and millionaires. Staggeringly, just 42 Australians now have a combined wealth of close to $236 billion,” said Ms Spinks.
“Cutting taxes for high-income earners will make our system less fair, overwhelmingly benefitting the already wealthy and privileged, while leaving behind everyday Australians battling with the cost-of-living crisis.”
Recent research from Food Bank found more than 2 million Australian households (21 per cent) had experienced severe food insecurity in the previous 12 months.
The report showed that 95 food and energy corporations more than doubled their profits in 2022, which Oxfam said was driving inflation in Australia and around the globe and leaving millions struggling to feed themselves and their families.
“Taxing the super-rich and big corporations is the path out of today’s overlapping inequality and climate crises, and the key to resuscitating democracy. We need to do this for innovation; for stronger public services; for happier and healthier societies,” Ms Spinks said.
“Critically, it will also allow us to tackle the climate crisis by investing in the solutions that counter the insane emissions of the very richest. Because 40 years of tax cuts for the super-rich have shown that a rising tide doesn’t lift all ships — just the superyachts.”
