The world’s richest 1% increased their wealth by $40 trillion in the last decade: oxfam

• The wealth of the world’s richest was 36 times greater than the wealth of the poor.
• Historically low taxes on the super-rich will be discussed at the G20 summit.
• Almost 4 out of 5 of the world’s richest people belong to G20 countries: oxfam.

Over the past decade, the world’s richest one percent increased their wealth by a total of $42 trillion, Oxfam said on Thursday.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) added that taxes on the wealthy have fallen to “historic lows”, leading to “obscene levels” of inequality, while the rest of the world is left scrambling for limited resources, AFP mentionted.

This topic will be a key topic at the upcoming G20 summit in Brazil.

Brazil has prioritized international cooperation on taxing the super-rich during its presidency of the G20, a group of countries that account for 80% of global GDP.

At this week’s summit in Rio de Janeiro, G20 finance ministers are expected to discuss raising taxes on the super-rich and preventing billionaires from avoiding tax systems.

The initiative aims to develop methods of taxing billionaires and other high earners.

The proposal is set to be hotly debated at the summit on Thursday and Friday, with France, Spain, South Africa, Colombia and the African Union in favor but the United States firmly against.

Oxfam called it a “real litmus test for G20 governments”, urging them to apply an annual net wealth tax of at least 8 per cent on the “extreme wealth” of the super-rich.

“The drive to raise taxes on the super-rich is undeniable,” said Oxfam International’s head of inequality policy, Max Lawson.

“Do they have the political will to achieve a global standard that puts the needs of the many above the greed of an elite few?”

Oxfam said the $42 trillion figure was nearly 36 times the wealth amassed by the poorest half of the world’s population.

Despite this, billionaires “paid a tax rate equivalent to less than 0.5% of their wealth” around the world, the NGO said.

Almost four in five of the world’s billionaires call a G20 nation home, Oxfam noted.