Super-rich call for higher taxes on wealthy to pay for Covid-19 recovery
Source: The Guardian #TruthBomb2020
07/13/20 by Rupert Neate
Exclusive: Group of 83 wealthy individuals demands ‘immediate, substantial and permanent’ higher taxes ‘on people like us’
Richard Curtis, left, Abigail Disney and Jerry Greenfield are among the letter’s signatories. Composite: Getty Images
A group of 83 of the world’s richest people have called on governments to permanently increase taxes on them and other members of the wealthy elite to help pay for the economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
The super-rich members, including Ben and Jerry’s ice cream co-founder Jerry Greenfield and Disney heir Abigail Disney, called on “our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently”.
“As Covid-19 strikes the world, millionaires like us have a critical role to play in healing our world,” the millionaires said in a letter shared with the Guardian. “No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards. We are not driving the ambulances that will bring the ill to hospitals. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door.
“But we do have money, lots of it. Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the years ahead, as our world recovers from this crisis.”
The group warned that the economic impact of coronavirus crisis will “last for decades” and could “push half a billion more people into poverty”.
Among those adding their names to the letter are Sir Stephen Tindall, the founder of the Warehouse Group and New Zealand’s second richest man with a $475m (£370m) fortune; the British screenwriter and director Richard Curtis; and the Irish venture capitalist John O’Farrell, who made millions investing in Silicon Valley tech companies.
“The problems caused by, and revealed by, Covid-19 can’t be solved with charity, no matter how generous. Government leaders must take the responsibility for raising the funds we need and spending them fairly,” the letter says. “We owe a huge debt to the people working on the frontlines of this global battle. Most essential workers are grossly underpaid for the burden they carry.”
The group released the letter ahead of this weekend’s G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting. They called on politicians to “address global inequality and acknowledge that tax increases on the wealthy and greater international tax transparency are essential for a viable long-term solution”.
The number of super-rich people continues to grow despite the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis and global lockdowns. Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person and the founder of Amazon, has seen his fortune swell by $75bn so far this year to a record $189bn.
There are more than 500,000 people in the world classed as “ultra-wealthy” with fortunes of more than $30m (£26.5m). That means there are more ultra-wealthy people around the world than the populations of Iceland, Malta or Belize.
There have been repeated calls for the super-rich to contribute more following the Covid-19 crisis. Critics have pointed out that while Bezos has donated $100m, it represents less than 0.1% of his estimated fortune.
In the UK, the Labour party has called on the government to consider introducing a wealth tax on the richest members of society to help fund the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Advertisement Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, this month said: “We are saying to the government, look at the idea of a wealth tax, we certainly support the principle that those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden.”
In Norway, about 500,000 people pay a 0.85% charge on their assets above the value of about £126,000.
The millionaires’ letter was organised by the Patriotic Millionaires, Oxfam, Human Act, Tax Justice UK, Club of Rome, Resource Justice, and Bridging Ventures.
Source: The Guardian
‘Millionaires for Humanity’ Sign On Letter
To Our Fellow Global Citizens:
As Covid-19 strikes the world, millionaires like us have a critical role to play in healing our world. No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards. We are not driving the ambulances that will bring the ill to hospitals. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door. But we do have money, lots of it. Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the years ahead, as our world recovers from this crisis.
Today, we, the undersigned millionaires, ask our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently.
The impact of this crisis will last for decades. It could push half a billion more people into poverty. Hundreds of millions of people will lose their jobs as businesses close, some permanently. Already, there are nearly a billion children out of school, many with no access to the resources they need to continue their learning. And of course the absence of hospital beds, protective masks, and ventilators is a painful, daily reminder of the inadequate investment made in public health systems across the world.
The problems caused by, and revealed by, Covid-19 can’t be solved with charity, no matter how generous. Government leaders must take the responsibility for raising the funds we need and spending them fairly. We can ensure we adequately fund our health systems, schools, and security through a permanent tax increase on the wealthiest people on the planet, people like us.
We owe a huge debt to the people working on the frontlines of this global battle. Most essential workers are grossly underpaid for the burden they carry. At the vanguard of this fight are our health care workers, 70 percent of whom are women. They confront the deadly virus each day at work, while bearing the majority of responsibility for unpaid work at home. The risks these brave people willingly embrace every day in order to care for the rest of us requires us to establish a new, real commitment to each other and to what really matters.
Our interconnectedness has never been more clear. We must rebalance our world before it is too late. There will not be another chance to get this right.
Unlike tens of millions of people around the world, we do not have to worry about losing our jobs, our homes, or our ability to support our families. We are not fighting on the frontlines of this emergency and we are much less likely to be its victims.
So please. Tax us. Tax us. Tax us. It is the right choice. It is the only choice.
Humanity is more important than our money.
The Signers
Click Here to sign
Family fortunes of wealthy increase as super-rich ride coronavirus storm
UBS says portfolios of 77% of richest investors are performing in line with or above target
07/16/20 by Rupert Neate
Source: The Guardian #TruthBomb2020
Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person and the founder of Amazon, has seen his fortune swell by $75bn so far this year to $189bn. Photograph: Katherine Taylor/Reuters
More than three-quarters of the world’s richest people have reported an increase in their already vast family fortunes, despite the economic shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Research into the family offices of the super-rich found that the vast majority were able to “ride out 2020’s storm in financial markets”, while many less wealthy people have lost their jobs and seen the value of their savings and pensions collapse.
The report by the Swiss bank UBS found that 77% of the richest families – who had average fortunes of $1.6bn (£1.25bn) – had seen their investment portfolios “perform in line with, or above, targets during one of the most volatile moments in the history of financial markets”.
Of the 121 family offices included in the survey, 93 had met or exceeded their financial targets in the year to May 2020. They achieved this despite most countries in the world suffering their worst economic contractions in decades. Some 24 of the family offices in the survey managed private fortunes of more than $3bn.
UBS family offices in numbers $142bn The total wealth disclosed $1.6bn The average worth of a family office 87 The number of 121 surveyed to disclose net worth
Josef Stadler, head of UBS’s ultra-high net worth unit, said the world’s richest people had been able to increase their fortunes during the crisis because they had enough money to “embrace and manage risk like no other investor”.
“They stick to their plans, even when market volatility makes it uncomfortable. They hold their position. They are disciplined,” Stadler said. “It is missing an opportunity that gives these clients the biggest headache, not making a short-term loss.”
The rising fortunes of the super-wealthy come as separate research shows that it is the poorest people in society who are mostly likely to be losing their jobs and suffering the biggest percentage fall in income.
“The crisis has so far impacted the earnings of the poorest households the most,” a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found last month. “Households in the poorest fifth – as measured by their pre-crisis income – have been hit hardest in terms of earnings, with a fall in their median household earnings of around 15% (or around £160 per month).”
The coronavirus crisis could increase global poverty by as much as half a billion people, or about 8% of the world population, according to research by the United Nations University.
Ana Arendar, head of inequality campaigns at Oxfam, said: “Whilst those with great wealth are able to reallocate their investments to insulate themselves from the economic impacts of Covid-19, most poor people in developing and developed countries cannot take similar action to protect their limited wealth.
“Wealth inequalities were already too high before the crisis and action is needed to ensure the gap does not grow further.”
Family offices – which were pioneered by the Rockerfeller family in the late 19th century to preserve their wealth for future generations – are also used by wealthy people to run homes and staff across the world and to look after private jets, super-yachts and other accoutrements.
The number of super-rich people continues to grow despite the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis. Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person and the founder of Amazon, has seen his fortune swell by $75bn so far this year to a record $189bn.
More than 500,000 people in the world are classed as “ultra-wealthy”, with fortunes of more than $30m (£26.5m). That means there are more ultra-wealthy people than the populations of Iceland, Malta or Belize.
This week, a group of more than 80 millionaires called on governments permanently to increase taxes on them and other members of the wealthy elite to help pay for the economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. Source: The Guardian #TruthBomb2020
The super-rich: another 31,000 people join the ultra-wealthy elite
Ranks of those worth over $30m swell to 513,000 despite global growth slowdown
2019 was a bumper year for the very wealthy, according to an annual wealth report. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Source: The Guardian #TruthBomb2020
More than 31,000 people joined the ranks of the “ultra-wealthy” last year as the fortunes of the already very rich benefitted from rising global stock markets and increased property prices.
The number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) – those with assets of more than $30m (£26.5m) – rose by 6% last year to 513,244, according to a report by the property consultants Knight Frank.
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That means there are more ultra-wealthy people around the world than the populations of Iceland, Malta or Belize.
The UHNWI population is expected to swell by a further 27% to 650,000 by 2024, the report estimates, as huge fortunes are being made in India, Egypt, Vietnam, China and Indonesia.
Those with slightly more modest fortunes also increased. There are now 50m dollar millionaires (£770,000), up from 46.9m in 2019. That’s more than the population of Spain.
Knight Frank said in its annual wealth report that while 2019 was a “ tumultuous year” for many investors and pension funds, most of the very wealthy reported a bumper year for their personal fortunes.
“Economically, 2019 was outwardly a tumultuous year, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reducing its forecast for global GDP growth from 3.5% in January 2019 to just 2.9% in January 2020 – a 10-year low,” the report said.
“Despite this, the world’s UHNWI population rose by 6.4% ... This is borne out by the results of our attitudes survey, in which 63% of [wealth managers] said their clients’ wealth had increased in 2019, with only 11% reporting a decrease.”
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research, says while almost half of the UHNWIs were in the US (where there are 240,000 people with more than $30m) the countries with the fastest-growing numbers of ultra-wealthy are in Asia and Africa.
“It’s exciting to see how wealth is developing across Asia and, with the number of ultra-wealthy in India, Vietnam, China and Malaysia outpacing many other markets over the next five years,” Bailey said. “It will be interesting to see how this impacts the global property market.”
The UHNWI population in India is expected to increase by 73% over the next five years, from 6,000 in 2019. Knight Frank expects Egypt, where there are 764, to be the second-fastest growing and increase by 66% by 2024. They are followed by Vietnam, China and Indonesia.
The UK’s UHNWI population increased by 4% to 14,400, putting the UK in sixth-place behind the US, China (61,600), Germany (23,000), France (18,800) and Japan (17,000).
The overall numbers of UHNWI people in Knight Frank’s study sharply increased compared with its 2018 study, after the firm changed its methodology to include the value of individuals’ homes.
Source: The Guardian #TruthBomb2020
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