Oxfam highlights inequality as world’s 10 richest men more than double wealth during COVID
January 17 2022 New Daily.
COVID-19 has turbocharged the vast fortunes of the world’s billionaires while causing untold harm for the world’s poor.

The world’s richest 10 men have more than doubled their wealth since the start of the pandemic, while 99 per cent of the global population have been left worse off, according to international charity Oxfam.

When businesses were forced to close and workers confined to their rooms, central banks slashed interest rates to record lows and pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to help keep the global economy afloat.

But much of that economic stimulus ended up flowing into company coffers and lining the pockets of their billionaire owners.

Now, economists have renewed their call for Australia’s unemployment benefit JobSeeker to be lifted above the poverty line, and Oxfam has pushed for the Australian government to introduce a wealth tax on the mega-rich.



Reversing progress
Released on Monday, Oxfam’s report found that Australia’s 47 billionaires – a list that includes Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, Anthony Pratt and Gina Reinhardt – were now worth $255 billion.

Globally, the top 10 richest men doubled their wealth to $US1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion). 

Oxfam public engagement chief Rod Goodburn said the jump in inequality went against recent trends.

“Until the pandemic, the work going on in the development space has actually reduced inequality, particularly over the last 25 years,” said Mr Goodburn, noting this was clear to see when looking at the rise of China and India.

But over the past two years inequality worsened due to “massive injections of finance from central banks into economies”.

Although this funding was important in keeping economies afloat, it had the effect of boosting corporate balance sheets and share prices.

Read – The rich grew richer: Elon Musk’s $167 billion windfall puts fellow billionaires’ gains to shame

Across the globe inequality jumped during the pandemic. Photo: Getty
And the surge in the fortunes of the super wealthy was dramatic.

“The world’s small elite of 2755 billionaires has seen its fortunes
grow more during COVID-19 than they have in the whole of the last
14 years – 14 years that themselves were a bonanza
for billionaire wealth,” Oxfam’s report said.

Meanwhile, Oxfam claimed that 99 per cent of the global population were worse off because of COVID-19 – though its methodology has been called into question.

Mr Goodburn said 99 per cent were worse off because in the developing world “there are many countries that don’t have age pensions, unemployment support or proper child care”.

Social safety net
Some of these support measures were temporarily increased in Australia during the pandemic.

But although these measures supported incomes, they suffered from major design flaws, according to independent economist Nicki Hutley.

“[Such programs] could have been tidied up a bit better along the way. Some companies took the [JobKeeper] payment when they didn’t actually need it,” Ms Hutley said.

The JobSeeker payment was boosted by $550 a fortnight from March 2020 to September 2020 but was then reduced as the economic situation improved.

“We should have just kept it there,” Ms Hutley said.

“It actually brought people back into a situation where they were no longer living below the poverty line and made a huge difference in stimulating the economy.”

At the other end of the spectrum, property owners and people with company shares saw their wealth skyrocket as huge cuts to central bank interest rates boosted asset prices across the board.

“The wealthier you are, the wealthier you get as asset values rise,” Ms Hutley said.



Oxfam’s wealth tax
Oxfam suggests a wealth tax should be introduced in Australia to deal with rising inequality, which has been linked to a greater chance of catching COVID-19.

“In Australia, if you are poor, you are 2.6 times more likely to die from COVID than if you are middle class or wealthy,” Mr Goodburn said.

A wealth tax would not just be used to boost the government’s coffers, it would fund social infrastructure that would in turn improve the lives of poorer Australians.

“[The money could be spent on] everything from health care to education to child care and the social safety net,” Mr Goodburn said.

He said Oxfam’s wealth tax would raise $30 billion a year – an amount sufficient to cover half the costs of achieving the WHO’s goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of the world population by mid-2022.

But not everyone agrees with wealth taxes.

Ms Hutley said they risked eroding incentives “by double taxing people”.

Though she said the tax system should be made more progressive.

“I’m very much opposed to the third tranche of the income tax cuts,” she said.

From 2024, those cuts will eliminate the 37 per cent tax bracket and see everyone earning between $45,000 and $200,000 a year paying the same marginal tax rate of 30 cents in the dollar.

Valkie wrote on Jan 18^th, 2022 at 6:34am:



you know how many dole bludgers we could pay and for how long with the $89 billion paid out to corporates who should never have claimed it?   And there's a lot more they received in other payments dressed up as fluff or grants.

you've been conned Valkie, and you're stupid enough to believe the hype

Valkie wrote on Jan 18^th, 2022 at 6:34am:

You're not worried about the tax. You just hate poor people. ADMIT IT.

John Smith wrote on Jan 18^th, 2022 at 10:29am:


Not conned, just sick to death of lazy parasites sitting on their fat arses doing nothing and demanding more to do it.

The dole should be limited to 12 months.
After the second child, unmarried parental money shoukd be stopped.
And a minimum of 10 years, preferably 30 years of contribution shoukd be required before the age pension is given, and should be more.

But you are right
If business paid tgeir fair share of tax
If politicians and fat cats were paid what tgey are worth
If retired politicians and fat cats got the same pension, with the same requirements as everyone else
And if our idiot grubberment stopped selling off all our resources, just so tgey can be "technically" sold at minimum value and suddenly become 10 times more expensive once they leave our shores.

It would be great.

But its never going to happen
We have one of tge most corrupt and clandestine grubberments on earth
Without a revolution, it will never change.

issuevoter wrote on Jan 18^th, 2022 at 11:53am:

Why? All you're doing is shooting down the idea of new taxes without debate or discussion. You're implying that the worst of the current taxes is better than the best tax that currently does not exist. That is not a sound proposition.

issuevoter wrote on Jan 18^th, 2022 at 11:53am:

No. Some of the current taxes are inefficient to collect, act as unnecessary disincentives, or have other issues. Payroll tax is one example of a bad tax because it is inequitable and discourages the creation of jobs. Replacing payroll tax with a single tax assessed on company turnover would replace an inefficient tax with one that is more efficient to assess.

issuevoter wrote on Jan 18^th, 2022 at 11:53am:

The post is discussing taxes, not regulations.

issuevoter wrote on Jan 18^th, 2022 at 11:53am:

That last part is not true. Wealth is not inherently evil. The real evil is found amongst the rich who loot and hoard unearned wealth for themselves.

Bam wrote on Jan 18^th, 2022 at 11:20am:


A worker is taxed on turnover, not on profit. 

A wealth tax?

Define wealthy.

Poor old bwyannnnnnnnn

Nothing to contribute, so he just acts the ass