Almost 400 individuals who say they’re “an individual of wealth” signed an open letter calling for international leaders to extend taxes on the superrich.
Signatories of the letter, which was addressed to leaders on the World Financial Discussion board’s Davos convention this week, embrace actor Mark Ruffalo, movie producer and activist Abigail Disney, and musician Brian Eno.
The letter mentioned that just a few ultrawealthy persons are negatively influencing almost each facet of society.
“A handful of world oligarchs with excessive wealth have purchased up our democracies; taken over our governments; gagged the liberty of our media; positioned a stranglehold on know-how and innovation; deepened poverty and social exclusion; and accelerated the breakdown of our planet,” the letter learn.
They mentioned that larger taxes, on individuals — together with themselves — was the answer.
“As our elected representatives—whether or not it is these of you at Davos, native councillors, metropolis mayors, or regional leaders—it is your obligation to ship it,” it mentioned. “So tax us. Tax the tremendous wealthy.”
The annual WEF convention has gathered among the world’s richest and strongest individuals within the Swiss mountain city.
Enterprise Insider tracked at the very least 157 non-public jets that arrived close to Davos, utilizing information from ADS-B Change and JetSpy. They included airplanes belonging to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Jets from firms like Aramco, BlackRock, Blackstone, Citigroup, Google, HP, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, and the quantitative hedge fund Two Sigma additionally arrived within the space.
Trump: The US would ‘lose some huge cash’
In April, President Donald Trump mentioned he would not thoughts paying extra in taxes himself, however he isn’t satisfied that he ought to increase taxes on millionaires.
“I believe it might be very disruptive, as a result of a variety of the millionaires would go away the nation,” Trump mentioned. “The outdated days, they left states. They go from one state to the opposite. Now with transportation so fast and really easy, they depart nations.”
Trump mentioned the US would “lose some huge cash” if the nation raised taxes on millionaires.
Oxfam reported this week {that a} document variety of billionaires had been created final yr, bringing the worldwide whole to greater than 3,000 for the primary time. Billionaire wealth has elevated by 81% since 2020, the examine discovered.
The tax petition was organized by the nonprofits Patriotic Millionaires, Millionaires for Humanity, and improvement charity Oxfam. The letter is printed on an internet site that permits extra individuals who establish as “an individual of wealth” to additionally signal their names.
