More than 250 billionaires and millionaires recently urged global leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland (15th-19th January 2024) to implement wealth taxes for improved public services worldwide. In their letter, titled "Proud to Pay More", they argue that fairer taxes are a sensible response to current economic conditions, acknowledging the rising threat of inequality and pressing for immediate action.
In the letter they write: "We ask you to tax us, the very richest in society. This will not fundamentally alter our standard of living, nor deprive our children, nor harm our nations’ economic growth. But it will turn extreme and unproductive private wealth into an investment for our common democratic future." The signatories also emphasize the inadequacy of one-off donations and philanthropy, urging government action at both national and international levels.
The benefits of higher taxes highlighted in the letter include addressing extreme wealth inequality, fostering a sustainable future, reducing the cost of living for working people, enhancing education, fortifying healthcare systems, improving infrastructure, and facilitating a green transition. Notable signatories include Disney heir Abigail Disney, actor Brian Cox, and Valerie Rockefeller.
The "Proud to Pay More" site also released a report noting 2,640 billionaires globally, contrasting their wealth with the struggles of ordinary people facing rising living costs and taxes. The report underscores the disproportionate tax contribution from wealth, with only four cents for every $1 raised globally (as outlined in the Oxfam report Survival of the Richest).
The report also mentions how extreme wealth concentration is identified as a threat to democracy, since wealth can buy political influence. Besides, the report links economic exclusion to waning faith in democracy, contributing to the rise of populist leaders claiming to fight for the economically excluded.
At the end of the report there are also profiles of wealthy people who support the Proud To Pay More Initiative. Fund Manager Guillaume Rambourg states: "The richest 1%, those of us who have captured 50% of the world's wealth creation over the past decade, must embrace the concept of investing back into society, because the constant race to having more billions in the bank is a dead end."
Economists advocate greater taxation of the super-rich as the next step in tackling inequality, a suggestion supported by a growing public (a polling found that 58% supported the introduction of a 2% wealth tax on people with more than $10m) and, notably, by wealthy individuals as well.
However, some of the world's richest men - entrepreneur and founder of SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Bernard Arnault, founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos, American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded software company Oracle Corporation Larry Ellison, veteran investor Warren Buffett (these are actually the world's top five richest men) and co-founder, executive chairman and CEO of Meta Platforms Mark Zuckerberg - are not among the signatories.
Yet their fortunes haven't certainly gone down: Oxfam recently published the report Inequality Inc. that highlights how the gap between the rich and the poor is becoming wider (shockingly there are even individuals richer than countries…).
In the last few years, while the total wealth of the poorest people (around 60% of the world population) declined, the combined fortune of the world's wealthiest people (Musk, Arnault, Bezos, Ellison, and Buffett - yes, all of them men...not a woman in sight) went from $405 billion in March 2020 to $869 billion in November 2023. Quite often these billionaires seem engaged in personal battles that can be summarised with Rambourg's words, with that "race to having more billions in the bank," which doesn't lead to anything else but "a dead end."
Oxfam points out that, if current trends persist, the world could see its first trillionaire within a decade, yet poverty won't be eliminated for another 229 years. This raises concerns for consumers and fashion enthusiasts, given the absence of fashion industry leaders, such as Bernard Arnault, in the Proud to Pay More initiative.
It seems that for some of these billionaires, paying more may not be en vogue. However, their reluctance to embrace higher taxes could potentially become untrendy, leading consumers to boycott brands owned by fashion tycoons. In a nutshell, while a fairer economy is achievable through equitable taxation, it might also be facilitated by boycotting certain brands and conglomerates, a strategy that may persuade their affluent owners to contribute more in taxes.
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