Did you know that the wealth tax on the rich is enough to vaccinate the entire population of the earth?

 

A new report says that imposing a one-time tax on the collective wealth of billionaires acquired during the pandemic only, could fund the provision of vaccines to all adults around the world, according to what was published by the website “The Hill”.

Drawing on data from Forbes, analysts from Oxfam, the Coalition Against Inequality, the Institute for Policy Studies and National Millionaires have found that the world's billionaires have reached $5.5 trillion since the pandemic began, and suggest a 99% tax - totaling $5.455 trillion - on Pandemic period earnings could fund vaccines around the world, or enough cash to provide $20,000 to all unemployed workers.

 

The authors note that even after the tax, the 2,690 billionaires would still see an average of $37 million in earnings from the pandemic period.

“The increase in the wealth of global billionaires as millions of people lost their lives and livelihoods is a disease that countries can no longer afford,” Maurice Pearl, former managing director of BlackRock and president of the National Millionaires Organization, said in the release of the report.

“The rich getting endlessly rich is not good for anyone,” Pearl continued, “Our economies are choking on this hoarding resource that could serve a much greater purpose. Billionaires need to put a lot of effort into this cash ball — and governments should make them do.” This is done by taxing their wealth.

 

The report estimates that vaccinating the world's adult population will cost about $70 billion - an average of $7 per dose. Meanwhile, according to the report, giving $20,000 to all unemployed workers would cost $4.4 trillion.

“Covid-19 is turning the gap between rich and poor into an unbridgeable chasm,” Max Lawson, Oxfam International’s head of global inequality policy, said in the statement released on the report. to tax immediately at a rate of 99%, which is enough to fully vaccinate everyone on the face of the earth and help the millions of workers who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.”

“Only through this kind of radical and progressive policy making will we be able to fight inequality and eradicate poverty,” he concluded.

 

Currently, only about 31% of the world's population has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 16% have been fully vaccinated. However, only 1% of the population is immunized in low- or middle-income countries.