The concentration of wealth has increased even further in 2018, and the 26 billionaires already have as much money as half the world’s poorest people. This is stated in a report by the non-governmental organization Oxfam.

Oxfam calls the governments to tax the richest people.

“The gap that has grown between the rich and the poor has hindered the fight against poverty, damaging the economy and fueling the anger in the world”, said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International. “Governments must ensure that companies and richer people pay their share of taxes”, added she in the traditional publication of Oxfam’s annual report on inequality in the world ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos to be held on January 22-25 in the Swiss winter resort.

According to figures from a non-governmental organization, whose methodology based on data published by Forbes and Credit Suisse bank is being challenged by some economists, 26 richest people have as much money as the poorest 3.8 billion people.

The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, has accumulated wealth worth 112 billion USD, according to Oxfam. For comparison, Ethiopia’s health budget is 1% of the wealth of Jeff Bezos.

Overall, billionaire wealth in the world has risen by 900 billion USD last year, or 2.5 billion USD per day, while half the world’s poorest population has shrunk by 11%.

The number of billionaires has doubled since the financial crisis in 2008, the non-governmental organization said, noting that “the richest have benefited not only from a rising веалтх but also from the lowest low taxes in decades.

“If the trend was the opposite, most governments would have enough resources to finance public services”, says Oxfam. The experts claim that from one dollar of income tax, only four cents come from wealth levies.

The richest hide from tax authorities 7.6 trillion USD, and in countries like Brazil or the UK, “10% of the poorest people are paying even higher taxes in proportion to their income than the richest”.

The report is published at a time when the taxation of the greatest wealth is causing debate in a number of countries.