A group of millionaires attending the exclusive Davos retreat in the Swiss Alps has called on world leaders to force them to pay more tax.
On Sunday, several millionaires joined left-wing tax activists on the streets of Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders and members of the business elite have gathered for the World Economic Forum.
“While the rest of the world is collapsing under the weight of an economic crisis, billionaires and world leaders meet in this private compound to discuss turning points in history,” Phil White, a member of Patriotic Millionaires, said, as per the BBC.
White added: “It’s outrageous that our political leaders listen to those who have the most, know the least about the economic impact of this crisis, and many of whom pay infamously little in taxes. The only credible outcome from this conference is to tax the richest and tax us now.”
Marlene Engelhorn, heir to the chemical corporation BASF, appealed to world leaders to “rebalance the world” and “tax the rich.”
“As someone who has enjoyed the benefits of wealth my whole life, I know how skewed our economy is and I cannot continue to sit back and wait for someone, somewhere, to do something,” Engelhorn said, reported The Guardian.
Energy and food prices continue to rise across the world, pushing up the cost of living and widening the wealth divide.
Speaking ahead of the Davos forum, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, said that anxiety over rising food prices was “hitting the roof,” leaving “weak” countries open to recession.
During the pandemic, 573 people became billionaires — around one every 30 hours — yet 263 million people are expected to be plunged into poverty this year, the charity Oxfam International said Monday.-businsider
