Calls to tax the super rich increased in 2024 & G20 countries have noticed. Here in Australia, billionaires have increased their wealth by 70.5% since 2020

The world’s richest have truly never been richer and the gap between the rich and the poor in most countries has truly never been wider. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s ten richest men doubled their collective fortunes – from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion – at the same time that incomes for 99% of humanity fell. [Patriotic Millionaires, January 2023]

Wealth Of Australia’s 50 Richest On Forbes List Rises To $222 Billion [Forbes, 15 February 2024]

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Top 1 percent bags over $40 trillion in new wealth during past decade as taxes on the rich reach historic lows

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Oxfam Australia Media Release

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Thursday 25 July 2024

The richest 1 percent have amassed $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade, nearly 34 times more than the entire bottom 50 percent of the world’s population, according to new analysis by Oxfam today ahead of the third meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Here in Australia, billionaires have increased their wealth by 70.5% or $120 billion since 2020. Australians are increasingly concerned about this growing inequality and support a wealth tax to address it. This is evidenced by newly released YouGov polling commissioned by Oxfam. The polling shows:

• 76% of Australians are concerned about the growing wealth gap between the ultra-rich and everyday people

• 74% Support a wealth tax of people with wealth of over $50 million

• 63% Support wealth tax proceeds being used to reduce inequality

The average wealth per person in the top 1 percent globally rose by nearly $400,000 in real terms over the last decade compared to just $335 – an equivalent increase of less than nine cents a day – for a person in the bottom half.

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Responding to the Rio de Janeiro G20 Ministerial Declaration on International Tax Cooperation published on 26 July 2024, Oxfam International’s Tax Policy Lead Susana Ruiz, said:

"This is serious global progress —for the first time in history, the world’s largest economies have agreed to cooperate to tax the ultra-rich. Finally, the richest people are being told they can't game the tax system or avoid paying their fair share.

"Governments have for too long been complicit in helping the ultra-rich pay little or zero tax. Massive fortunes afford the world’s ultra-rich outsized influence and power, which they wield to shield, stash and supersize their wealth, undercutting democracy and widening inequality.

"Now to the next step: at the G20 Summit in November this year, leaders need to go further than their finance ministers and back concrete coordination: agreeing on a new global standard that taxes the ultra-rich at a rate high enough to close the gap between them and the rest of us.

"Brazil has kickstarted a truly global approach to tax the ultra-rich. But the work is just beginning and international cooperation is crucial.

"We call on G20 leaders to align with the progress being made at the UN and establish a truly democratic process for setting global standards on taxing the ultra-rich. Entrusting this task to the OECD —the club of mostly rich countries— would simply not be good enough."

BACKGROUND

• Earlier this month, close to 20 former heads of state and government of G20 and higher-income countries called on current G20 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to support a “new global deal to tax the world’s ultra-rich individuals” in an open letter.

• Oxfam’s research found that the share of national income going to the top 1 percent of earners in G20 countries has increased by 45 percent over the last four decades. During the same period, the top tax rates on their incomes has fallen by roughly a third (from around 60 percent in 1980 to 40 percent in 2022).

• According to the EU Tax Observatory, global billionaires have very low personal effective tax rates, of between 0 percent and 0.5 percent of their wealth.

 

TOP 10 RICHEST AUSTRALIANS

according to Forbes, 14 February 2024

1. Gina Rinehart; US$30.2 billion

2. Andrew Forrest & Family; $21.5 billion

3. Harry Triguboff; $16.2 billion

4. Mike Cannon-Brookes; $13.7 billion

5. Scott Farquhar; $13.5 billion

6. Anthony Pratt; $10.3 billion

7. Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins, $8.8 billion

8. Bianca Rinehart & Siblings, $8.5 billion

9. John, Alan & Bruce Wilson, $6.6 billion

10. Frank Lowy, $6.5 billion

Cartoon of the Week

Moir in The Sydney Morning Herald  Saturday, June 29, 2019

Dear Tony, Regards Francis

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA ON THE OCCASION OF THE G20 SUMMIT
[BRISBANE, 15-16 NOVEMBER 2014]

[Multimedia]

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To the Honourable Tony Abbott
Prime Minister of Australia

On 15 and 16 November next in Brisbane you will chair the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the world’s twenty largest economies, thus bringing to a close Australia’s presidency of the Group over the past year.  This presidency has proved to be an excellent opportunity for everyone to appreciate Oceania’s significant contributions to the management of world affairs and its efforts to promote the constructive integration of all countries.

The G20 agenda in Brisbane is highly focused on efforts to relaunch a sustained and sustainable growth of the world economy, thereby banishing the spectre of global recession.  One crucial point that has emerged from the preparatory work is the fundamental imperative of creating dignified and stable employment for all.  This will call for improvement in the quality of public spending and investment, the promotion of private investment, a fair and adequate system of taxation, concerted efforts to combat tax evasion and a regulation of the financial sector which ensures honesty, security and transparency.

I would ask the G20 Heads of State and Government not to forget that many lives are at stake behind these political and technical discussions, and it would indeed be regrettable if such discussions were to remain purely on the level of declarations of principle.  Throughout the world, the G20 countries included, there are far too many women and men suffering from severe malnutrition, a rise in the number of the unemployed, an extremely high percentage of young people without work and an increase in social exclusion which can lead to criminal activity and even the recruitment of terrorists.  In addition, there are constant assaults on the natural environment, the result of unbridled consumerism, and this will have serious consequences for the world economy.

It is my hope that a substantial and productive consensus can be achieved regarding the agenda items.  I likewise hope that the assessment of the results of this consensus will not be restricted to global indices but will take into account as well real improvements in the living conditions of poorer families and the reduction of all forms of unacceptable inequality.  I express these hopes in light of the post-2015 Development Agenda to be approved by the current session of the United Nations Assembly, which ought to include the vital issues of decent work for all and climate change.

The G20 Summits, which began with the financial crisis of 2008, have taken place against the terrible backdrop of military conflicts, and this has resulted in disagreements between the Group’s members.  It is a reason for gratitude that those disagreements have not prevented genuine dialogue within the G20, with regard both to the specific agenda items and to global security and peace.  But more is required.  The whole world expects from the G20 an ever broader agreement which can lead, through the United Nations legal system, to a definitive halt to the unjust aggression directed at different religious and ethnic groups, including minorities, in the Middle East.  It should also lead to eliminating the root causes of terrorism, which has reached proportions hitherto unimaginable; these include poverty, underdevelopment and exclusion.  It has become more and more evident that the solution to this grave problem cannot be a purely military one, but must also focus on those who in one way or another encourage terrorist groups through political support, the illegal oil trade or the provision of arms and technology.  There is also a need for education and a heightened awareness that religion may not be exploited as a means of justifying violence.

These conflicts leave deep scars and result in unbearable humanitarian situations around the world.  I take this opportunity to ask the G20 Member States to be examples of generosity and solidarity in meeting the many needs of the victims of these conflicts, and especially of refugees.

The situation in the Middle East has revived debate about the responsibility of the international community to protect individuals and peoples from extreme attacks on human rights and a total disregard for humanitarian law.  The international community, and in particular the G20 Member States, should also give thought to the need to protect citizens of all countries from forms of aggression that are less evident but equally real and serious.  I am referring specifically to abuses in the financial system such as those transactions that led to the 2008 crisis, and more generally, to speculation lacking political or juridical constraints and the mentality that maximization of profits is the final criterion of all economic activity.  A mindset in which individuals are ultimately discarded will never achieve peace or justice.  Responsibility for the poor and the marginalized must therefore be an essential element of any political decision, whether on the national or the international level.

With this Letter I express my appreciation for your work, Prime Minister, and I offer my prayerful encouragement for the deliberations and outcome of the Summit.  I invoke divine blessings on all taking part and on all the citizens of the G20 countries.  In a particular way, I offer you my prayerful best wishes for the successful conclusion of Australia’s presidency and I willingly assure you of my highest consideration. 

From the Vatican, 6 November 2014

FRANCIS

Another north coast voice on the wider stage

Letter to the Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 March 2014

Beware the glass house

I see the G8 is likely to be cut back to G7 in response to Russia's actions in the Crimea (''Australia may use G20 role to pressure Putin'', March 4). Will this necessarily lead to a further drop to a G5 as the West tries to evade accusations of hypocrisy by no longer ignoring the illegalities of the British and American invasion of Iraq?

Perhaps Putin's real offence was in ignoring correct protocol by not first alleging that Ukraine had weapons of mass destruction. Without this important first step others might think that its aim was just to try to maintain contact with its Black Sea naval fleet and naval base, or in the case of Blair and Bush, just to steal some oil. The world is much more forgiving if at least the courtesy of a plausible excuse is given beforehand.

Dermot Nunan 
Maclean NSW

Source: SMH Letters, 5 March 2014