A new Oxfam report has highlighted the growing gulf between the rich
and poor as it revealed that the world's top 26 billionaires are richer
than half of the world's poorest people or 3.8billion people. According
to the report, Billionaires, who now number a record 2,208, have more
wealth than ever before and are growing $2.8billion richer everyday.
Most of these mega-wealthy are American, according to the Forbes list
of billionaires used by Oxfam. The names include Amazon's Jeff Bezos,
Microsoft's Bill Gates, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett and
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who collectively are worth $357 billion,
according to Forbes.
Oxfam recommends that nations tax wealth at fairer
levels, raise rates on personal income and corporate taxes and eliminate
tax avoidance by companies and the super-rich. It also advocates
providing universal free health care, education and other public
services — and ensuring that women and girls also benefit. And it
suggests investing in public services — including water, electricity and
childcare — to free up women's time and limit the number of unpaid
hours they work.
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