As the 'world’s elite' descend on the small Swiss town of Davos this week for forums aiming to solve “the biggest issues facing our world", the charity Oxfam have released a report revealing the extreme gap between the world’s wealthiest and poorest people. The charity said the best-off had pocketed $26tn (£21tn) in new wealth up from the start 2020 to the end of 2021. That represented 63% of the total new wealth, with the rest going to the remaining 99% of people. The report calls for immediate action to tackle widening global inequality after revealing that while poverty has increased for the first time in 25 years, the combined fortune of billionaires has increased by $2.7bn a day. “The current economic reality is an affront to basic human values”, says Danny Sriskandarajah, the chief executive of Oxfam GB. “How can we accept a system where the poorest people in many countries pay much higher tax rates than the super-rich? Governments must introduce higher taxes on the super-rich now." One of the richest men in history, Elon Musk, has been shown to pay a ‘true tax rate’ of 3.2%, while another of the richest billionaires, Jeff Bezos, pays less than 1%, the report says. Oxfam said extreme concentrations of wealth led to weaker growth, corrupted politics and the media, corroded democracy and led to political polarisation. The super-rich were key contributors to the climate crisis, the charity added, with a billionaire emitting a million times more carbon than the average person. “Taxing the wealthiest is no longer an option – it’s a must" said Colombia’s finance minister, José Antonio Ocampo in a foreword to the report. Swipe to read Oxfam's suggestions on what should change - and tell us your thoughts in the comments. #davos #oxfam #wealthinequality #billionaires #tax #taxes #inequality