The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the gap between the rich and the poor. A report released by Oxfam, an international advocacy organization working on ending extreme poverty, says the wealth held by the world’s 10 richest people has soared from US$700 billion to US$1.5 trillion in two years — increasing at a speed of US$1.3 billion per day on average — which is more than the combined assets of the world’s poorest 3.1 billion people.
Surprisingly however, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, a group of international super-rich, who brand themselves “patriotic millionaires,” issued an open letter jointly signed by its 102 members, calling on governments worldwide to “tax us now” to reduce the burgeoning gap between rich and poor, and provide more budgets for public health services.
“As millionaires, we know that the current tax system is not fair,” the letter says. “Most of us can say that, while the world has gone through an immense amount of suffering in the last two years, we have actually seen our wealth rise during the pandemic — yet few if any of us can honestly say that we pay our fair share in taxes.”
It shows that there are still many rich people in the world who want to contribute more to help reduce inequality between the rich and the poor, support national treasuries that have been depleted due to COVID-19 pandemic relief plans and win back the trust of the public.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) once publicly called on the government to follow the example of former US president Barack Obama to increase taxes on the rich, so that the gap between the rich and the poor in Taiwan could be narrowed by redistributing wealth.
Chang even said that the government’s tax cuts for the wealthy made him feel bad.
Acer Inc founder Stan Shih (施振榮) also said that high-income earners should pay more tax, and that rich people in Taiwan should support paying more tax.
The stance of both men is truly admirable.
The question then becomes exactly how should the wealthy be taxed.
The Oxfam report recommends an annual wealth tax applied to the world’s richest with a graduated rate structure of 2 percent tax on wealth over US$5 million, 3 percent on wealth over US$50 million and 5 percent on wealth over US$1 billion.
Chang’s suggestion is that the government evaluate the gap between the rich and the poor in Taiwan based on the data gap between the top 2 percent of the highest income groups and the middle class, instead of comparing the top 20 percent and the lowest 20 percent.
In this way, the rich at the top of the wealth pyramid can transfer part of their income to the poor through the tax system, so that wider society can be more equitable.
To supplement this idea, the rich could also donate their assets to charity, in a similar vein to the initiative championed by former Microsoft chief executive officer Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway chief executive officer Warren Buffett.
Dino Wei is an information engineer.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
Taiwan is facing multiple economic challenges due to internal and external pressures. Internal challenges include energy transition, upgrading industries, a declining birthrate and an aging population. External challenges are technology competition between the US and China, international supply chain restructuring and global economic uncertainty. All of these issues complicate Taiwan’s economic situation. Taiwan’s reliance on fossil fuel imports not only threatens the stability of energy supply, but also goes against the global trend of carbon reduction. The government should continue to promote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, as well as energy storage technology, to diversify energy supply. It
Former Japanese minister of defense Shigeru Ishiba has been elected as president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and would be approved as prime minister in parliament today. Ishiba is a familiar face for Taiwanese, as he has visited the nation several times. His popularity among Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers has grown as a result of his multiple meetings and encounters with legislators and prominent figures in the government. The DPP and the LDP have close ties and have long maintained warm relations. Ishiba in August 2020 praised Taiwan’s
On Thursday last week, the International Crisis Group (ICG) issued a well-researched report titled “The Widening Schism across the Taiwan Strait,” which focused on rising tensions between Taiwan and China, making a number of recommendations on how to avoid conflict. While it is of course laudable that a respected international organization such as the ICG is willing to think through possible avenues toward a peaceful resolution, the report contains a couple of fundamental flaws in the way it approaches the issue. First, it attempts to present a “balanced approach” by pushing back equally against Taiwan’s perceived transgressions as against Beijing’s military threats
RSS