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We are living through an unprecedented moment of multiple crises. Tens of millions more people are facing hunger. Hundreds of millions more face impossible rises in the cost of basic goods or heating their homes. Poverty has increased for the first time in 25 years. At the same time, these multiple crises all have winners. The very richest have become dramatically richer and corporate profits have hit record highs, driving an explosion of inequality. This report focuses on how taxing the rich is vital to addressing this unprecedented polycrisis and skyrocketing inequality. The report explores how, in recent history, taxation of the richest was far higher; how talk of taxing the rich and making billionaires pay their fair share is hugely popular; and how taxing the rich claws back elite power and reduces not just economic inequality, but racial, gender and colonial inequalities, too. The report lays out how much tax the richest should pay, and the practical, tried and tested ways in which governments can raise such taxation. It shows us how taxing the rich can set us clearly on a path to a more equal, sustainable world free from poverty., Nous traversons une période sans précédent marquée par des crises multiples. Des dizaines de millions de personnes supplémentaires sont aujourd’hui confrontées à la faim. Des centaines de millions d’autres font face à des augmentations intenables du coût des produits de première nécessité ou du chauffage. Pour la première fois en 25 ans, la pauvreté gagne du terrain. Mais parallèlement, d’autres profitent de ces crises multiples. Les plus fortuné·es se sont considérablement enrichi·es, et les bénéfices des entreprises ont atteint des sommets, provoquant une explosion des inégalités. Ce rapport montre en quoi il est indispensable de taxer les personnes riches pour faire face à cette succession de crises sans précédent et à la montée en flèche des inégalités. Il détaille comment, dans l’histoire récente, l’imposition des plus riches était bien plus élevée. Il souligne le fait que les discours visant à taxer les personnes riches et à faire payer aux milliardaires leur juste part sont extrêmement populaires. Il met en évidence la manière dont l’imposition des personnes riches permet de limiter le pouvoir des élites et de réduire non seulement les inégalités économiques, mais aussi les inégalités raciales, de genre et coloniales. Il dévoile le montant de l’impôt que les plus riches pourraient payer, ainsi que les solutions éprouvées dont disposent les gouvernements pour lever cet impôt. Il explique comment la taxation des personnes riches peut clairement nous mettre sur la voie d’un monde plus égalitaire, durable et exempt de pauvreté.

The wealth of the world's 10 richest men has doubled since the pandemic began. The incomes of 99% of humanity are worse off because of COVID-19. Widening economic, gender, and racial inequalities—as well as the inequality that exists between countries—are tearing our world apart. This is not by chance, but choice: “economic violence” is perpetrated when structural policy choices are made for the richest and most powerful people. This causes direct harm to us all, and to the poorest people, women and girls, and racialized groups most. Inequality contributes to the death of at least one person every four seconds. But we can radically redesign our economies to be centered on equality. We can claw back extreme wealth through progressive taxation; invest in powerful, proven inequality-busting public measures; and boldly shift power in the economy and society. If we are courageous, and listen to the movements demanding change, we can create an economy in which nobody lives in poverty, nor with unimaginable billionaire wealth—in which inequality no longer kills., Depuis le début de la pandémie, la fortune des dix hommes les plus riches au monde a doublé. 99 % de l’humanité a des revenus moins importants que prévu à cause de la COVID-19. L’augmentation des inégalités économiques, de race et de genre, ainsi que les inégalités entre pays, fragmentent notre monde. Ceci n’est pas le fruit du hasard, mais de décisions politiques délibérées : une « violence économique » s’opère lorsque les choix de politiques structurelles sont faits pour les personnes les plus riches et les plus puissantes. Ces choix nous affectent toutes et tous, en particulier les personnes les plus pauvres, les femmes et les filles et les groupes racisés. Les inégalités contribuent à la mort d’au moins une personne toutes les quatre secondes. Mais nous pouvons repenser nos économies de façon radicale afin de faire de l’égalité notre priorité. Nous pouvons nous attaquer à la concentration extrême des richesses grâce à une fiscalité progressive ; investir dans des mesures publiques luttant contre les inégalités et repenser la distribution du pouvoir dans l’économie et la société. Si nous agissons avec courage et que nous écoutons les mouvements appelant au changement, nous pourrons construire une économie dans laquelle personne ne vit dans la pauvreté alors même qu’une autre personne peut amasser des milliards, une économie dans laquelle les inégalités ne tuent plus.

The coronavirus pandemic has the potential to lead to an increase in inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began. The virus has exposed, fed off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race. Over two million people have died, and hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty while many of the richest – individuals and corporations – are thriving. Billionaire fortunes returned to their pre-pandemic highs in just nine months, while recovery for the world’s poorest people could take over a decade. The crisis has exposed our collective frailty and the inability of our deeply unequal economy to work for all. Yet it has also shown us the vital importance of government action to protect our health and livelihoods. Transformative policies that seemed unthinkable before the crisis have suddenly been shown to be possible. There can be no return to where we were before. Instead, citizens and governments must act on the urgency to create a more equal and sustainable world., La pandémie de coronavirus pourrait aggraver les inégalités dans la quasitotalité des pays de la planète simultanément, une première depuis que ce type de données est consigné. Le virus a mis au jour et amplifié les inégalités de richesse, les inégalités de genre et les inégalités raciales existantes, tout en s’en nourrissant. Plus de deux millions de personnes ont perdu la vie, et des centaines de millions de personnes basculent dans la pauvreté alors que bon nombre des entreprises et des particuliers les plus riches prospèrent. Les milliardaires ont retrouvé le niveau de richesse qui était le leur avant la pandémie en seulement neuf mois, alors qu’il faudra plus de dix ans aux personnes les plus pauvres pour se relever des impacts économiques du coronavirus. La crise a mis au jour notre fragilité collective, ainsi que l’incapacité de notre économie profondément inégale à œuvrer dans l’intérêt de toutes et tous. Elle nous a également démontré l’importance cruciale de l’intervention des gouvernements dans la protection de notre santé et de nos moyens de subsistance. Des politiques transformatrices qui semblaient inenvisageables avant la crise se sont soudain révélées possibles. Le retour au monde d’avant n’est pas une option. Au lieu de cela, les citoyen-ne-s et les gouvernements doivent se mobiliser autour de l’urgence de créer un monde plus égalitaire et plus durable

A good-quality public education is liberating for individuals. It can also be an equalizer within society. This report shows the unparalleled power of public education to tackle growing inequality and bring us closer together. To achieve this, education must be both of good quality and equitable; it should be free, universal, adequately funded, with well-supported teachers, and accountable public oversight. Fairer taxation of the wealthiest can help pay for it.

Our economy is broken, with hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top., The number of billionaires has doubled since the financial crisis and their fortunes grow by $2.5bn a day, yet the super-rich and corporations are paying lower rates of tax than they have in decades. The human costs – children without teachers, clinics without medicines – are huge. Piecemeal private services punish poor people and privilege elites. Women suffer the most, and are left to fill the gaps in public services with many hours of unpaid care., We need to transform our economies to deliver universal health, education and other public services. To make this possible, the richest people and corporations should pay their fair share of tax. This will drive a dramatic reduction in the gap between rich and poor and between women and men., Check out the interactive online version of the report., Notre économie est défaillante : des centaines de millions de personnes vivent dans l’extrême pauvreté alors que d’immenses richesses sont concentrées dans les mains d’une minorité., Le nombre de milliardaires a doublé depuis la crise financière et leur fortune augmente chaque jour de 2,5 milliards de dollars. Or, les élites fortunées et les grandes entreprises bénéficient des taux d’imposition les plus bas de ces dernières décennies. Les coûts humains (des enfants sans enseignant-e-s, des cliniques sans médicaments) sont considérables et ce sont les plus pauvres qui en payent le prix. Les femmes en souffrent particulièrement, contraintes de combler des services publics insuffisants par de nombreuses heures de travail de soin non rémunéré., Nous devons transformer nos économies pour garantir l’universalité de l’accès à la santé, à l’éducation et à d’autres services publics. Pour cela, les entreprises et les plus riches doivent payer leur juste part d'impôts. Cela permettra de réduire considérablement l’écart entre les riches et les pauvres et entre les femmes et les hommes.

Free public services, such as health and education, are one of the strongest weapons in the fight against inequality. They benefit everyone in society, but the poorest most of all. They mitigate the impact of skewed income distribution, and redistribute revenue by putting ‘virtual income’ into the pockets of the poorest women and men., Across OECD countries public services already provide the poorest people with the equivalent of 76% of their post-tax income., Oxfam is calling on governments to urgently reform tax systems and increase public spending on free public services, such as health and education, to tackle inequality and prevent us being tipped irrevocably into a world that works for the few and not the many., Key recommendations: Prioritize increased public spending on and delivery of health and education services, to fight poverty and inequality at a national level. Prioritize policies and practices that increase financing for free public health and education. Finance health and education from general progressive taxation, rather than through private and optional insurance schemes, user fees and out-of-pocket payments. Refrain from implementing unproven and unworkable market reforms to public health and education systems, and expand public sector rather than private sector delivery of essential services.

Developing-country governments desperately need more long-term and predictable aid, given through their budgets, to finance the expansion of health care, education, and other vital social services. The European Commission (EC) is one of the biggest donors providing this kind of essential budget support, and has innovative plans to further improve and increase this aid. European Union (EU) member states must support these ambitious plans. The EC in turn must do more to improve on this good start, de-linking this aid from harmful International Monetary Fund (IMF) prescriptions, putting an end to unnecessary bureaucratic delays, and doing more to make its aid accountable to citizens in poor countries.

Diseases that disproportionately affect the developing world cause immense suffering and ill health. Medical innovation has the potential to deliver new medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics to overcome these diseases, yet few treatments have emerged. Current efforts to resolve the crisis are inadequate: financing for research and development (R&D) is insufficient, uncoordinated, and mostly tied to the system of intellectual property rights. Delivering appropriate medicines and vaccines requires reforms to the existing R&D system and a willingness to invest in promising new approaches.

Millions of people are dying, sick, or out of school because there are not enough teachers, nurses, and doctors in poor countries. Some poor-country governments have doubled expenditure on health and education since 2000 but still cannot afford to pay for these workers, so aid must plug the gap. But current aid is failing poor people – only 8 cents in the aid dollar are channelled into government plans that include the training and salaries of teachers and health workers. Two million teachers and 4.25 million health workers must be recruited to make health and education for all a reality. Aid donors must change the way they provide money, making long-term commitments and supporting national plans.

Half of the children in Afghanistan still do not go to school despite a 500 per cent increase in enrolments in the last six years. With the establishment of democracy, the main symbol of national regeneration lay in the dream of educating every child – boy and girl. However, there remain many obstacles to achieving this dream.

Remarkable progress has been made in the last ten years toward achieving the education-related Millennium Development Goals. Many more girls are in school and enrolment rates are on the rise, due to higher-quality aid and to political commitment in developing countries. However, these achievements could be derailed by the global economic crisis, newly falling aid levels, and educational challenges. With 72 million children still out of school, the world’s poorest countries urgently need a global financing initiative that can deliver the resources to scale up to Education For All.