Calls are being made for the introduction of a small tax on Ireland’s super-wealthy - a move which could raise billions for the housing, health, and education sectors.
A new report from Oxfam has highlighted that the wealth of Ireland’s billionaires increased by 58 per cent over the last two years, with their total wealth now standing at €49.7 billion. As a result, Oxfam has called for a 1.5 per cent wealth tax, which, it estimates, could raise €4 billion for the Exchequer.
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People Before Profit Galway representative, Adrian Curran, welcomed Oxfam’s report. PBP has also called for a wealth tax. In the party’s most recent pre-budget submission, it pointed out that the richest five per cent of the Irish population (85,000 households ) had a total wealth of €331 billion between them - an average wealth of €3.6 million per household.
“The Oxfam report confirms the absolutely staggering increase in the wealth of a tiny minority of super-wealthy individuals in this country,” said Mr Curran. “While the vast majority of people have been enduring the hardships of the Covid pandemic, a small cohort of multi-millionaires and billionaires have seen their already staggering levels of wealth reach obscene proportions.”
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Mr Curran [pictured above] said such a level of wealth inequality is not victimless, and that the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of a small number of individuals, can result in a lack of resources available to address the housing crisis or invest in public health and education.
“We have to address the extreme levels of wealth inequality in our society,” he said. “The very least we could do is impose a small wealth tax on multi-millionaires, which would raise billions for housing, health, education and vital public services. The super-wealthy would barely even feel it.”
