Berlin (KNA) The five richest men in the world have more than doubled their wealth since 2020. According to an Oxfam study published on Monday, these five men had a fortune of 405 billion US dollars in 2020. This figure has now risen to USD 869 billion. All billionaires have increased their wealth by USD 3.3 trillion in the same period – while the world’s almost 5 billion poorest people have lost USD 20 billion in wealth.
Adjusted for inflation, the total wealth of the five richest Germans has grown by around three quarters or 73.85 per cent since 2020: from around USD 89 billion to around USD 155 billion.
Oxfam presented the “Inequality Inc.” study at the start of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss holiday resort of Davos. “We need a tax on high wealth so that the super-rich also make their fair contribution to the common good,” demanded Serap Altinisik, Executive Director of Oxfam Germany.
Specifically, the organisation is in favour of levying a two percent tax on assets of over five million US dollars, three percent on assets of over 50 million US dollars and five percent on assets exceeding one billion US dollars.
According to Oxfam estimates, this could generate USD 93.6 billion per year in Germany alone. In Germany, only just over 200,000 people would have to pay the tax, it said. That is just 0.24 per cent of the population.
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