The EU Commission admits taxing wealth is gaining ground

Chiara Putaturo is available for interview. 

Read the new EU Annual Report on Taxation. Wealth taxation is covered in chapter 3.4 (pp. 87 to 99). The report estimates that the richest 0.001% of EU citizens (roughly 3,560 individuals) saw their wealth grow by 237% between 1995 and 2021, while the average personal wealth of EU citizens in the bottom 50% increased by 80% over the same period. This means that the wealth of the top 0.001% grew nearly three times more than those in the bottom 50%. 

Oxfam is supporting, together with politicians, economists like Thomas Piketty and multi-millionaires like Marlene Engelhorn, a European Citizens Initiative for a European wealth tax. The European Citizens' Initiative allows EU citizens to call on the European Commission to propose new legislative initiatives if 1 million signatures are reached. The deadline for signature collection is 9 October 2024.  More than 230,000 citizens have signed. 

Based on Oxfam’s 2024 report “Inequality Inc.”, Oxfam calculates that EU governments are missing 33 million euros per hour by not taxing Europe’s super-rich,  amounting to 286.5 billion euros in revenue annually. According to 2023 estimations, the revenues of a net wealth tax up to 5% on European multimillionaires and billionaires would raise 250 bn euro annually. 

A new report by the economist Gabriel Zucman under the G20 Brazil presidency sets out a proposal for a global standard for taxing the ultra-rich. Oxfam calls on all G20 countries, including the EU, to support Brazil’s push to secure the first-ever global deal to tax the super-rich. 

A recent survey by Earth4all shows that 68% of people support a wealth tax on the very rich in 17 of the G20 countries and according to the 2023 Eurobarometer, 67% — nearly 7 in 10 — Europeans agree or strongly agree that it is important for governments to tax the rich to support the poor.