A group of more than 200 millionaires from 13 countries published an open letter Tuesday calling on world leaders gathered in Davos to tackle skyrocketing inequality by taxing rich people like themselves, warning that extreme concentrations of wealth at the top are “unsustainable.”
“We are living in an age of extremes,” states the letter from global millionaires, which was hand-delivered to World Economic Forum attendees. “Rising poverty and widening wealth inequality; the rise of anti-democratic nationalism; extreme weather and ecological decline; deep vulnerabilities in our shared social systems; and the shrinking opportunity for billions of ordinary people to earn a livable wage.”
“Why, in this age of multiple crises, do you continue to tolerate extreme wealth?” the letter asks. “The solution is plain for all to see… Tax the ultra-rich and do it now. It’s simple, commonsense economics. It is an investment in our common good and a better future that we all deserve, and as millionaires we want to make that investment.”
The letter comes on the heels of two analyses detailing how the global rich have captured a disproportionate share of the wealth generated in recent years with the help of policies that often allow them to pay a lower tax rate than ordinary workers, who are bearing the brunt of price increases, falling real wages, and economic instability.
According to a study published Monday by Oxfam International, the global 1% took in $26 trillion of the $42 trillion in new wealth created since 2020, nearly twice as much as the share grabbed by the bottom 99%.
A separate analysis released Tuesday by the Patriotic Millionaires, the Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies, and Oxfam found that billionaire wealth has soared by 99.6%—around $5.9 trillion—over the past decade.
The analysis estimated that “an annual progressive wealth tax of 2% for those who have a net wealth of $5 million or more, 3% for $50 million or more, and 5% for those with more than $1 billion” would have produced $1.7 trillion in revenue in 2022 alone, a sum that could be used to fund critical anti-poverty, climate, and healthcare initiatives.
“Until Davos attendees start talking about taxing the rich, the entire gathering will remain a very public example of how out of touch they really are.”
With the exception of a few high-profile moments—such as historian Rutger Bregman’s viral 2019 rant on the prevalence of tax dodging and world leaders’ refusal to address it—the topic of taxation has largely been sidelined at Davos, an annual gathering of corporate and political elites that often produces splashy rhetoric but no concrete action.
Abigail Disney, a documentary filmmaker and member of the Patriotic Millionaires, said Tuesday that she has “been to Davos” and “sat in the same room with some of the richest and most powerful people in the world as they talk about how they can make a difference, so I can say this with firsthand experience—Davos is a farce.”
“Until Davos attendees start talking about taxing the rich, the entire gathering will remain a very public example of how out of touch they really are,” said Disney, a signatory of the new letter to Davos attendees.
Another signatory, Patriotic Millionaires chair Morris Pearl, said that “the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos has become largely irrelevant, little more than an exercise in self-congratulation for the world’s elites to convince themselves that they’re making a difference.”
“They refuse to accept an obvious truth—the cause of inequality is the rich getting richer and richer without paying any taxes,” Pearl added. “If the world leaders and billionaires at Davos want the world to start taking them seriously, they need to earn that respect. That starts with taking inequality seriously, and taxing the rich.”
Read the full letter (the list of signatories is here):
For the Attention of our Political Leaders attending Davos:
We are living in an age of extremes. Rising poverty and widening wealth inequality; the rise of anti-democratic nationalism; extreme weather and ecological decline; deep vulnerabilities in our shared social systems; and the shrinking opportunity for billions of ordinary people to earn a livable wage.
Extremes are unsustainable, often dangerous, and rarely tolerated for long. So why, in this age of multiple crises, do you continue to tolerate extreme wealth?
The history of the last five decades is a story of wealth flowing nowhere but upwards. In the last few years, this trend has greatly accelerated. In the first two years of the pandemic, the richest 10 men in the world doubled their wealth while 99% of people saw their incomes fall. Billionaires and millionaires have watched their wealth grow by trillions of dollars, while the cost of simply living is now crippling ordinary families across the world.
The solution is plain for all to see. You, our global representatives, have to tax us, the ultra-rich, and you have to start now.
The current lack of action is gravely concerning. A meeting of the ‘global elite’ in Davos to discuss “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” is pointless if you aren’t challenging the root cause of division. Defending democracy and building cooperation requires action to build fairer economies right now—it is not a problem that can be left for our children to fix.
Now is the time to tackle extreme wealth; now is the time to tax the ultra-rich.
There’s only so much stress any society can take, only so many times mothers and fathers will watch their children go hungry while the ultra-rich contemplate their growing wealth. The cost of action is much cheaper than the cost of inaction – it’s time to get on with the job.
Tax the ultra-rich and do it now. It’s simple, common-sense economics. It is an investment in our common good and a better future that we all deserve, and as millionaires we want to make that investment.
What—or who—is stopping you?
