Despite fluctuations in the stock markets, 10 the richest Americans they became richer by 365 billion dollars in the past year, Oxfam analysis shows.
The staggering increase in wealth represents a gain of about $2023 billion a day for that elite group of billionaires, while, by contrast, the typical American worker in 50.000 earned just over $XNUMX.
The data comes as Republicans debate legislation that nonpartisan experts say will make the rich even richer and cut nearly a trillion dollars from funding for key social programs.
"The wealth of billionaires has increased astronomically, while so many ordinary people struggle to make ends meet," Oxfam America's senior director of economic and racial justice policy, Rebecca Riddell, said in the report, according to CNN.
To determine the gains of the richest, Oxfam measured the changes in wealth of the top 10 on the Forbes list of billionaires in real time between the end of April last year and the end of April this year.
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, accounted for slightly more than half of the total increase in wealth, as he earned $186,1 billion during that period.
Introducing a wealth tax?
The net worth of Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg and Walmart heir Rob Walton increased by $38,7 billion. Legendary investor Warren Buffett earned an additional $34,8 billion, while Walmart heir Jim Walton earned $36,5 billion.
Some billionaires, like Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, lost some of their wealth during that period.
Oxfam claims that the Republican law, which Donald Trump has said is his priority, would further harm ordinary people and benefit the wealthiest.
"We are witnessing the creation of a tax bill that would lead to the world's first billionaire," Riedel said.
Some experts have called for tackling inequality by introducing a wealth tax on ultra-millionaires and billionaires. Oxfam says a tax of just three percent on wealth above $50 billion would provide $10 billion from the 22,5 richest Americans alone, enough to provide food aid for XNUMX million people for a year.
Others, however, argue that a wealth tax would be very challenging, in part because it can be difficult to estimate the net worth someone has, and some legal experts have questioned whether a wealth tax would be constitutional.
Source: FoNet
