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Maximilianstraße in Munich - one of the most expensive addresses in Germany
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Westend61 / IMAGO
Before the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the development organization Oxfam warned of increasing inequality in the world, but also in Germany.
For the first time in 25 years, extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased at the same time.
The significant increase in food and energy prices over the past year has made billionaires even richer.
"While millions of people do not know how to pay for food and energy, the crises of our time are bringing gigantic wealth increases for billionaires," said Manuel Schmitt, officer for social inequality at Oxfam Germany.
According to the report by the anti-capitalism organization at the WEF annual conference in Davos, 95 food and energy companies worldwide more than doubled their profits in 2022.
They generated $306 billion in random prizes and distributed $257 billion (84 percent) to shareholders.
Oxfam defines wins here as random wins if they exceed the average for the years 2018 to 2021 by 10 percent or more.
The bottom line is that corporations and the super-rich are the winners of the corona pandemic and energy crisis, Oxfam noted.
Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, the richest one percent of the world's population has pocketed around two-thirds of global wealth growth.
The trend is even clearer in Germany: 81 percent of the wealth growth that was generated in Germany in 2020 and 2021 was attributable to the richest one percent of the population.
The combined wealth of all billionaires has increased by an average of $2.7 billion per day since 2020.
For every $1 per capita in wealth gain in the poorer 90 percent of the world's population, a billionaire gained an average of $1.7 million.
At the same time, according to Oxfam, at least 1.7 billion workers live in countries where inflation is greater than wage growth.
About every tenth person on earth is starving.
Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) also considers this development to be dangerous.
"The pandemic, conflicts and not least the Russian war of aggression have set us back years in terms of poverty, hunger, health or education - while the rich have gotten even richer," she told the dpa news agency.
»If we don't reduce inequality worldwide, we won't be able to overcome the time of crisis.«
Schulze said it was important to set up social safety nets that would support people who lost their income, lost their homes, lost their parents and were unable to work.
What Oxfam specifically demands – also from the federal government
Oxfam, on the other hand, is primarily demanding higher taxes for the rich as a way out of the crisis.
Decades of tax cuts for the richest and for companies have recently exacerbated inequality.
In some countries, the poorest have higher tax rates than billionaires.
According to Oxfam, only four percent of tax revenue worldwide comes from taxes on wealth.
"Corporations and their super-rich main owners must finally make their fair contribution to the common good," demanded Schmitt.
Oxfam specifically expects from the federal government
the introduction of a tax on abnormally high profits during the energy crisis.
Such so-called excess profits would have to be taxed at at least 50 percent.
In addition, a wealth tax must be reintroduced.
A one-time levy on large assets is also necessary.
The money should be invested in education, health and the social security systems.
aar/dpa
