Context:
The report was released by rights group Oxfam International on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.
Relevance:
Facts for Prelims
Dimensions of the Article:
- Wealth Inequality
- Impact of Taxing the Rich
- Gender and Social Inequality
- Wealth Increase of Billionaires During the Pandemic
- Recommendations
Wealth Inequality
- A new study shows that the richest 1% in India now own more than 40% of the country’s total wealth, while the bottom half of the population shares just 3% of wealth.
Impact of Taxing the Rich
- Taxing India’s ten richest at 5% could raise enough money to bring children back to school.
- A one-off tax on unrealized gains from 2017-2021 on just one billionaire, Gautam Adani, could have raised ₹1.79 lakh crore, enough to employ more than five million Indian primary school teachers for a year.
- Taxing India’s billionaires once at 2% on their entire wealth could support the requirement of ₹40,423 crore for the nutrition of malnourished in the country for the next three years.
Gender and Social Inequality
- Female workers earned only 63 paise for every 1 rupee a male worker earned.
- Scheduled Castes and rural workers earned 55% and 50% respectively of what the advantaged social groups earned between 2018 and 2019.
Wealth Increase of Billionaires During the Pandemic
- Since the pandemic began, billionaires in India have seen their wealth surge by 121% or ₹3,608 crore per day in real terms, according to Oxfam.
- The total number of billionaires in India increased from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022.
- The combined wealth of India’s 100 richest has touched USD 660 billion ( ₹54.12 lakh crore) – an amount that could fund the entire Union Budget for more than 18 months.
Recommendations
- Oxfam recommends introducing one-off solidarity wealth taxes and windfall taxes to end crisis profite
-Source: Live mint
