Three-quarters of Australians back wealth tax amid rising inequality
A survey has found most Australians support more action to rein in the ultra-rich as the G20 agreed to work on a 2 per cent levy on assets last week.
Around three-quarters of Australians support a tax on billionaires to curb rising inequality that has reached “obscene” levels, according to a recent survey.
In a YouGov poll commissioned by Oxfam, 74 per cent of respondents supported a tax on fortunes exceeding $50 million.
A further 76 per cent of respondents were concerned about the gap between ordinary Australians and the ultra-rich.
The survey, released last week, coincided with a Brazil-led meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Rio de Janeiro.
Talks focused on a coordinated approach to tax avoidance, and a global tax to tip the economic scales away from billionaires akin to the OECD's pillar two plan for a minimum tax for multinationals.
“Inequality in Australia and across the globe has reached obscene levels, and until now governments have failed to protect people and planet from its catastrophic effects,” said Oxfam Australia chief executive Lyn Morgain.
“The richest one percent of humanity continues to fill their pockets while the rest are left to scrap for crumbs.”
Australian billionaires including mining magnates Gina Reinhart and Clive Palmer and Meriton founder Harry Triguboff consolidated their wealth by a total of $120 billion (or 71 per cent).
Globally, billionaires also increased their wealth by 7.1 per cent annually over the last four decades, with the average wealth per person in the top 1 per cent rising by nearly $400,000 in real terms.
This compared to a rise of just $335 for a person in the bottom half of earners – or less than nine cents a day.
Oxfam said an annual net wealth tax of at least 8 per cent would be needed to ensure billionaires paid their fair share.
Billionaires only had an average tax rate between 0 and 0.5 per cent, according to the EU Tax Observatory.
During G20 talks last week, Brazil proposed a 2 per cent wealth tax on individuals with assets over US$1 billion to raise revenue of up to $250 billion annually from 3,000 individuals.
“With full respect to tax sovereignty, we will seek to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed,” the G20 tax declaration, seen by Reuters, said.
“Cooperation could involve exchanging best practices, encouraging debates around tax principles, and devising anti-avoidance mechanisms, including addressing potentially harmful tax practices,” it said.
Morgain said the results from the meeting would be a “real litmus” test for G20 governments.
“Momentum to increase taxes on the super-rich is undeniable, and this week is the first real litmus test for G20 governments,” she said.
“Do they have the political will to strike a global standard that puts the needs of the many before the greed of an elite few?”
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