KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): The richest 1% have amassed US$42 trillion (RM195.97 trillion) in new wealth over the past decade, nearly 34 times more than the entire bottom 50% of the world’s population, according to Oxfam International, a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organisations.

The average wealth per person in the top 1% rose by nearly US$400,000 in real terms over the last decade compared to just US$335, an equivalent increase of less than nine cents a day, for a person in the bottom half, said the non-profit in a statement on Thursday released ahead of the third meeting of Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This week, G20 finance ministers are expected to lay the foundations of a groundbreaking global deal to increase taxes on the super-rich.

Championed by the Brazilian G20 presidency and backed by countries including South Africa, Spain and France, the proposal comes amid growing public demand for measures to rein in extreme levels of inequality and ensure that the rich pay their fair share.

Oxfam head of inequality policy Max Lawson said inequality had reached obscene levels, and until now governments had failed to protect people and the planet from its catastrophic effects.

“The richest 1% of humanity continue to fill their pockets, while the rest are left to scrap for crumbs.”

“Momentum to increase taxes on the super-rich is undeniable, and this week is the first real litmus test for G20 governments.

“Do they have the political will to strike a global standard that puts the needs of the many before the greed of an elite few?” Lawson said.

Oxfam said a “war on fair taxation” had seen tax rates on the wealth and income of the richest collapse.

Oxfam has calculated that less than eight cents in every dollar raised in tax revenue in G20 countries now comes from taxes on wealth. Oxfam’s research also found that the share of income of the top 1% of earners in G20 countries had risen by 45% over four decades, while top tax rates on their incomes were cut by roughly a third.

Globally, billionaires have been paying a tax rate equivalent to less than 0.5% of their wealth.

Oxfam said their fortunes had risen by an annual average of 7.1% over the last four decades, and an annual net wealth tax of at least 8% would be needed to reduce billionaires’ extreme wealth.

G20 countries are home to nearly four out of five of the world’s billionaires.