As the world’s elites descend on the luxury Swiss mountain resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Oxfam’s latest report, Takers Not Makers, reveals an unsettling reality: the world’s billionaires continue to make trillions while billions of people continue to live in poverty.
Key Findings:
- Extreme concentration of wealth: Globally, billionaire wealth grew by AUD $3 trillion in 2024, with the wealth of the 10 richest people increasing by AUD $150 million per day. Billionaire wealth is growing three times faster than the year before.
- Unfair systems of wealth creation: Most extreme wealth is unearned; 60% of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, monopolies, and cronyism.
- Global inequality persists: The number of people living below the poverty line is the same as it was in 1990; 3.5 billion people, or 44% of humanity. Meanwhile, the world’s richest 1% now own 45% of all global wealth. The richest 1% in wealthy countries extracted AUD $46.1 million per hour from low-income countries in 2023, further entrenching global disparities.
The report underscores how today’s inequalities reflect centuries of colonialism and exploitation, and the continued dominance of the wealthy elite and multinational corporations over low-income countries and people.
A closer look at Australia
In 2024, Australian billionaire wealth surged by AUD $28 billion — an average of AUD $3.2 million per hour. Spread across Australia’s 47 billionaires, that means an Australian billionaire on average made AUD $67,000 per hour last year. That’s over 1,300 times the hourly wage of the average Australian.
The cost-of-living crisis continues, with everyday families struggling to make ends meet. Rising housing costs, stagnating wages, and increased inflation mean that the wealth gap is growing faster than ever. Despite the immense wealth generated among the country’s elite class, essential public services such as healthcare, education, income support and housing remain underfunded, disproportionately affecting women, First Nations communities, and low-income households.
The impacts of colonialism’s violent legacy also continue to be felt in Australia today; a third of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are in the poorest 20% of the population, and on average earn 28% less than non-First Nations Australians.
What Needs to Change:
- Tackle inequality by taxing the super rich
Globally billionaires have an effective tax rate of around 0.3% of their wealth. The world’s richest must be fairly taxed, with this money reinvested in housing, healthcare, education, climate change action and aid to make poverty history. Australian decision-makers must introduce a wealth tax on the super rich and other progressive tax reforms to ensure that the wealthiest Australians contribute fairly to the public good. Australia must also support global momentum at the G20 and the United Nations around global agreements to effectively tax the super-rich.
- Ensure big corporations pay their fair share of tax
While everyday Australians face a cost-of-living crisis, big corporations and their billionaire shareholders are capitalising on crisis and avoiding paying tax. Almost one-third of large corporations, including more than half of Australia’s major mining, energy and water companies, paid no income tax in the latest year of reporting. The top 500 Australian corporations raked in AUD $98 billion in excess profits off the back of the COVID-19 crisis and Russia’s war on Ukraine, and in some cases by price gouging. We must introduce a tax on big corporations excessive profits and close the loopholes to ensure they pay their fair share of tax.
- Ending systems of modern-day colonialism
By addressing unequal trade, financial systems, and corporate monopolies that extract wealth from the Global South, we can end modern-day colonialism and reduce inequality. Australia can play a leading role in championing reforms within international institutions such as the United Nations, IMF, G20 and World Bank, and support nations in the Global South to address global systematic inequality.
- Radically reduce inequality to end poverty.
Governments, including Australia, need to commit to ensuring that the incomes of the top 10 percent are no higher than the bottom 40 percent, known as a ‘Palma ratio’ of one. According to the World Bank, reducing inequality could end poverty three times faster.
A critical moment for Australia and the world
By reining in extreme wealth and corporate power, and instead reinvesting funds to essential services, we can create a fairer and more equitable world — one where wealth serves everyone, not just the few.
Send a message to Treasurer Jim Chalmers and join us to Make Tax Fair.
