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Oxfam said on July 25 that the wealth of the world's richest 1% has increased by a total of 42,000 billion USD over the past decade.
The information was released just before the conference of financial leaders of the Group of 20 leading developed and emerging economies (G20) in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), with the agenda focusing on the issue of taxing the super-rich.
According to Oxfam, this figure of $42 trillion is nearly 36 times more than the wealth accumulated by the poorest 50% of the world's population. However, tax rates on the world's richest 1% have fallen to historic lows, with billionaires paying less than 0.5% of their wealth in taxes. Oxfam also notes that nearly 80% of the world's billionaires come from G20 countries.
At the July 25-26 summit in Rio de Janeiro, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors are likely to make progress on raising taxes on the super-rich and cracking down on tax evasion by billionaires.
The issue is expected to be a hotly debated topic at the conference. France, Spain, South Africa, Colombia, host Brazil and the African Union (AU) support the tax increase, while the US - home to the world's largest population of super-rich people - is firmly opposed.
Oxfam calls the issue of taxing the wealthy a "real challenge for G20 governments." The organization calls for an annual net wealth tax of at least 8% for the super-rich.
