Billionaire wealth in Ireland increased by €35.6 million per day, Oxfam Ireland said upon the January 20 publication of Oxfam's "Takers Not Makers" report.
There were two new billionaires in Ireland last year, Oxfam Ireland said on Monday, adding that Irish billionaire wealth could carpet the whole of Phoenix Park in €50 notes almost 1.5x over.
It takes just five days for someone in the top 1% to make what the average person in the bottom 50% makes all year, Oxfam Ireland noted.
Billionaire wealth is out of control.
— Oxfam Ireland (@OxfamIreland) January 24, 2025
💰 Oxfam predicts the world will have at least five trillionaires within a decade.
💶 Billionaire wealth in Ireland could carpet Phoenix Park 1.5 times in €50 notes!
Let’s call out the unfair system that keeps the rich getting richer… pic.twitter.com/JZXy5cUD74
Globally, Oxfam found that there were 204 new billionaires in 2024, nearly four every week.
This comes as the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990.
Oxfam predicts there will be at least five trillionaires a decade from now.
Meanwhile, the richest 1% in the Global North extracted €29m an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023, Oxfam said.
The Oxfam report was published the same day that billionaire Donald Trump was inaugurated, for the second time, as President of the United States. Seated just behind Trump during the inauguration ceremony in Washington, DC were tech billionaires Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Sundar Pichai.
“The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable," Jim Clarken, Oxfam Ireland CEO, said upon the publication of Oxfam's "Takers Not Makers" report.
"The failure to stop billionaires is now spawning soon-to-be trillionaires.
"Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth accumulation accelerated —by three times— but so too has their power.
“President Trump will be a president of and for billionaires, using his power over the world’s largest economy to slash taxes for the ultra-rich and mega-corporations, at the expense of everyone else.
“Trump’s team is set to be the richest ever to run the US government, worth more than an unimaginable $450 billion. There are at least 13 billionaires appointed to jobs in his administration. And even if you exclude Elon Musk, Trump's cabinet would be the richest in history.
“Billionaires increasingly control not just economies but narratives and that is why in this report we challenge the popular perception that their vast wealth is deserved or based on merit. Oxfam calculates that 36 percent of billionaire wealth is now inherited. This report shows how extreme wealth is not simply a function of talent or ingenuity alone but built on the back of the work of countless others and taxpayer investment.
“We are witnessing the rise of a modern oligarchy, where wealth is used to build and consolidate political power and vice versa.
"Meanwhile, global poverty remains at 1990 levels. We must first acknowledge the disparity and set about reversing the trend.”
Oxfam Ireland is urging the new Irish Government to introduce a flat rate of 1.5% on all net wealth above €5 million, or a progressive tax of 2% on net wealth above €5 million. It is also calling for 3% on net wealth above €50 million, and 5% on wealth above €1 billion.
Oxfam Ireland estimates that such a tax, if fully implemented, could yield over €4-9 billion a year for the Irish exchequer.
Additionally, Oxfam Ireland is calling upon the Irish Government to lead efforts for a more "multilateral world by advocating for debt cancellation, democratisation of international institutions like the UN, the World Bank, and the IMF, and regulate corporations to ensure living wages and fair-trade practices."
Further, Oxfam Ireland wants the Irish Government to commit to climate justice "by ramping up our domestic climate action and providing greater financial support for countries in the global south experiencing climate breakdown and related hunger and conflict."
Comments