The famous World Economic Forum in Davos kicked off this year with something unexpected.
A handful of millionaire attendees gathered in the Swiss city are calling on world leaders to tackle the cost-of-living crisis by raising taxes for people like them.
On Sunday, they took to the streets alongside left-wing activists to call for fairer tax systems around the world.
Political and business leaders met at the first in-person World Economic Forum (WEF) since the pandemic began.
However, criticism continues to mount about how the wealthy have benefited in the past two years.
“While the rest of the world is collapsing under the weight of an economic crisis, billionaires and world leaders are gathering in this private room to discuss things that will make history,” said British billionaire Phil White.
“It is outrageous that our political leaders listen to those who have the most. They are precisely those who know the least about the economic impact of this crisis and many of them pay incredibly low taxes. The only credible result of this conference is to tax the richest and do it now.” “.
White, who represents a group called the Patriotic Millionaires, made his fortune as a business consultant.
He said he would join left-wing activists and anti-poverty activists advocating for change at the annual gathering of influential business and political leaders because the current economic system is failing.
Over the past decade, a growing number of millionaires and billionaires in the United States and Europe have spoken out, calling on governments to impose higher taxes, including taxes on the wealth of the richest.
Although only a small number of millionaires were in Davos to attend the protest, activists sent an open letter to all Davos delegates, signed by millionaire supporters in various countries.
Marlene Engelhorn, another millionairess at the protest, said: “As someone who has enjoyed the benefits of wealth all my life, I know how skewed our economy is and I can’t keep sitting around and waiting for someone, somewhere, to do something. “.
“We have reached the end of the road when another 250 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty this year.”
The charity Oxfam, which publishes a report on inequality every year during the Davos forum, says that in the last two years a new billionaire has been created every 30 hours.
At the other end of the income spectrum, Oxfam expects around a million people to fall into extreme poverty every 33 hours this year, the charity’s international chief executive, Gabriela Bucher, told the BBC.
“Inequality between countries has been shrinking in the last two decades,” he said.
“During the pandemic it increased again and the numbers we’re seeing now indicate that we’re going in extreme directions that are creating these catastrophic conditions and reflecting on people’s lives.”
Energy prices started rising towards the end of last year, but grew more steeply after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The prices of food and other goods are also markedly higher.
Geopolitical tensions are making it difficult to resolve trade tensions and growth has slowed in much of the world.
The world’s richest countries collectively grew just 0.1% in the first three months of this year, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, with the United States, Italy and Japan contracting in the quarter, and France experiencing a zero growth.
The UK economy grew by 0.8%.
Before the WEF meeting, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said the world economy was facing a “confluence of calamities” with trade fragmentation.
This WEF meeting is taking place later than usual, which means that the 2,000 leaders, experts and entrepreneurs who will attend will not be able to enjoy skiing in their spare time at the Swiss resort.
Topics on the agenda include the war in Ukraine, recovery from the pandemic and climate change.
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