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Laws favour the rich - Oxfam
Oxfam recently revealed a startling statistic: the 85 richest people own the wealth of half of the world’s population. Oxfam is calling on the World Economic Forum (WEF) delegates to help reverse this trend.
According to Fin24, Oxfam highlighted in a report entitled Working for the few the impact that widening inequality is having on developed and developing countries.
The report indicates that in Africa, global corporations in extractive industries exploit their influence to avoid taxes.
This reduces governments’ resources to fight poverty.
It also showed that globally, the richest individuals and companies hide trillions of dollars away from the tax man in a web of tax havens, reports Fin24.
It is estimated that US$21 trillion is held unrecorded and off-shore.
According to the report, wealthy elites have co-opted political power to rig the rules of the economic game, but the public is increasingly questioning this.
Meanwhile, polls done for Oxfam in six countries indicate that most people believe that laws favour the rich.
The survey was conducted in South Africa, Brazil, India, Spain, the UK and US.
Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam executive director, said in a statement that widening inequality is creating a vicious circle.
“It is staggering that in the 21st century half of the world’s population owns no more than a tiny elite and whose numbers could all sit comfortably in a single train carriage.
"In too many countries, economic growth amounts to little more than a ‘winner-takes-all’ windfall for the richest," said Byanyima.
