It’s time to start taxing the super-rich to finance development

Amitabh Behar is executive director of Oxfam International

A decade ago, world leaders made ambitious pledges - to end hunger, tackle poverty, and build a fairer future. But today, nearly half the world’s population - well over 3.7 billion people - are living below the global poverty line.

Inequality has reached obscene heights. Since 2015, the richest 1% have gained at least $33.9 trillion in wealth in real terms, enough to end poverty 22 times over. Billionaires, roughly 3,000 people, have gained $6.5 trillion, more than the $4 trillion estimated annual costs of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that world leaders promised to meet by 2030.

Yet many wealthy nations are now enacting the largest aid cuts in history, precisely when global needs are mounting. The moral failure couldn’t be clearer.

This did not happen by accident – it’s the result of a rigged system that prioritises the interests of a wealthy few.

Ten years ago, a plan struck in Addis Ababa promised to mobilise private finance to fund development. The idea? Big investors would step in as the silver bullet to finance the fight against poverty while making profits along the way, even in essential services like health and education.

Instead, the private investor focused approach has supercharged inequality, funnelling resources to corporations and the super-rich while neglecting the needs of ordinary people.

We see the failings of this approach everywhere - 3.3 billion people live in countries where governments spend nearly half their budgets on debt repayments, leaving little for healthcare, education, care services or climate adaptation.

Private creditors, predominantly based in the Global North, now control more than half of the debt owed by low- and middle-income countries, charging exorbitant interest rates while snubbing relief. Predatory vulture funds buy distressed debt for cheap and sue governments for astronomical profits.

In the Philippines and Kenya, private hospitals financed by blended public ‘development’ money and private funds have held patients hostage, until eyewatering bills are paid. In Lesotho, a single public private partnership hospital cost more than half the healthcare budget.

The Fourth Financing for Development (FFD) Conference opening in Seville this week marks a pivotal moment for governments to change course - by forging new strategic alliances against inequality that reclaim development from private interests and assert a development model that prioritises the public good.

Earlier this month, Oxfam attended the launch of the Global Alliance Against Inequality, a coalition that will bring nations together to fight oligarchies and prioritise public needs over corporate profits. Germany, Sierra Leone and Norway are among countries already on board with others joining in the coming weeks.

We are at a tipping point, but it is not too late to do the right thing. 

It’s time to tax the super-rich. While extreme wealth concentration has increased, billionaires pay effective tax rates close to 0.3% of their wealth, well below what average workers contribute.

Governments should support new U.N.-led negotiations towards a more fair, inclusive, and transparent global tax system which sets firm rules to ensure the super-rich and the largest companies pay more where they really operate.

Effective taxation of both the super-rich and major multinationals could help fund climate action, universal healthcare, and education without relying on exploitative private creditors.

Recent research by Oxfam shows that a polluter profits tax on 590 oil, gas and coal companies could raise up to $400 billion in its first year. This is equivalent to the estimated annual costs of climate damage in the Global South.

Finally, we must reform the international financial architecture, starting with debt. Creditor governments must offer more generous debt relief terms to ensure that debtor countries can reinvest in development and climate. They must also compel private creditors to consent to fair restructuring, and outlaw vulture funds.

None of this will be easy. But if leaders fail to act, inequality will deepen, and billions will continue to suffer. The world doesn’t need more billionaires - it needs governments with the courage to stand up for ordinary people, to invest in public services, and to create a system that benefits all.

We need bold, collective action now. Starting in Seville.