世界の最富裕者５人の資産、２０２０年以降２倍超に　国際ＮＧＯ

【ダボス（スイス）ＡＦＰ＝時事】世界の富裕層上位５人の総資産が、新型コロナウイルスが世界的に大流行した２０２０年以降２倍超に増えたとする報告書を、国際ＮＧＯオックスファム・インターナショナルが１５日に発表した。（写真は資料画像）
　オックスファムによる世界的な格差に関する年次報告書は、スイス・ダボスで開かれる世界経済フォーラムの年次総会を前に発表されるのが慣例となっている。
　世界経済は、新型コロナなどの影響で１０年前に比べてさまざまな危機に見舞われているが、富裕層や企業は、株価の上昇で２０２０年より資産を大幅に拡大。世界の不平等に拍車を掛けているとオックスファムは懸念を表明している。
　最富裕者５人の総資産は２０２０年には４０５０億ドル（約５９兆円）だったのに対し、昨年は８６９０億ドル（約１２６兆円）に増加した一方で、２０年以降、世界で５０億人近くがますます貧しくなったという。
　オックスファムは、「労働者搾取の一方で、富裕な株主の資産拡大、脱税、国家の私物化が起きるなど、企業が影響力を振るうことで格差が助長されている」上に、賃金や食品・医薬品の価格が企業に左右される状況を招いていると指摘。
　「税制の政策決定に関するロビー活動で企業が税制優遇措置を受け、最貧困層の支援に充てられるはずの政府の財源縮小の一因になっている」と批判している。
　また、経済協力開発機構（ＯＥＣＤ）加盟国の法人税は、１９８０年には４８％だったが、２０２２年には２３．１％まで軽減されたことにも言及。
　こうした格差に対処するため、最富裕層への富裕税の導入が実現すれば、年間１兆８０００億ドル（約２６１兆円）の税収が見込まれるとした上で、最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）の給与にも上限を設けるよう求めている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/01/15-17:23）

The world's wealthiest five men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020, the charity Oxfam said on Monday, as it called on nations to resist the ultra-rich's influence over tax policy.
A report from the charity, published as the global elite hobnob at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, said their wealth rose from $405 billion in 2020 to $869 billion last year.
Yet since 2020, nearly five billion people worldwide have grown poorer, Oxfam said.
Billionaires are today $3.3 billion richer than they were in 2020, despite many crises devastating the world's economy since this decade began, including the Covid pandemic.
Oxfam's yearly report on inequality worldwide is traditionally released just before the forum opens on Monday in the Swiss Alpine resort.
The charity raised concerns over increasing global inequality, with the richest individuals and companies amassing greater wealth thanks to surging stock prices, but also significantly more power.
Corporate power is used to drive inequality: by squeezing workers and enriching wealthy shareholders, dodging taxes, and privatising the state, Oxfam said.
It also accused corporations of driving inequality by undertaking a sustained and highly effective war on taxation, with far-reaching consequences.
Oxfam said states handed power over to monopolies, allowing corporations to influence the wages people are paid, food prices and which medicines individuals can access.
Around the world, members of the private sector have relentlessly pushed for lower rates, more loopholes, less transparency, and other measures aimed at enabling companies to contribute as little as possible to public coffers, Oxfam added.
The charity said thanks to intensive lobbying over tax policymaking, corporations have been able to pay lower corporate taxes, thereby depriving governments of money that could be used to financially support the poorest in society.
Corporate taxes have significantly dropped in OECD countries from 48 percent in 1980 to 23.1 percent in 2022, Oxfam noted.
To address the imbalance, Oxfam called for a wealth tax on the world's millionaires and billionaires that it says could bring in $1.8 trillion dollars each year.
The charity also called to cap CEO pay and break up private monopolies.