{"id":456628,"date":"2022-01-03T15:39:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T15:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=34823c1de96994ef5f26e2fde75c63c7"},"modified":"2022-01-03T15:39:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T15:39:12","slug":"tax-the-rich-10-billionaires-added-402-billion-to-their-fortunes-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/01\/03\/tax-the-rich-10-billionaires-added-402-billion-to-their-fortunes-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTax the Rich:\u201d 10 Billionaires Added $402 Billion to Their Fortunes in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\"People<\/a>

The world’s 10 richest billionaires added roughly $402 billion to their collective wealth in 2021, a year marked by continued suffering and economic dislocation fueled by the global coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

“Heading into 2022, the 10 wealthiest individuals in the world are all worth more than $100 billion,” CNBC<\/em> noted<\/a>, citing the Bloomberg Billionaires Index<\/a>, which tracks and ranks the fortunes of the planet’s richest people.<\/p>\n

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said<\/a> Sunday that the staggering growth of billionaire wealth amid a worldwide public health emergency and economic crisis should compel Congress to finally redress<\/a> the fundamental injustices of the U.S. tax system.<\/p>\n

“In 2022,” said Jayapal, “let’s tax the rich and invest in our communities.”<\/p>\n

At the top of the Billionaires Index at the close of 2021 was Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who added over $121 billion to his wealth last year as the pandemic both took and completely upended lives, pushing tens of millions<\/a> of people into poverty and intensifying preexisting inequities. Just behind Musk on the list was former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who tacked $5 billion onto his net worth in 2021, leaving him with a total fortune of $195 billion.<\/p>\n

In November, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) outlined<\/a> a proposal by which Musk \u2014 now the richest man in the world \u2014 and other U.S. billionaires could donate just 0.36% of their pandemic wealth gains to help 42 million people facing starvation.<\/p>\n

“The $6.6 billion required would help those in most need in the following way: one meal a day, the basic needed to survive \u2014 costing $0.43 per person per day, averaged out across the 43 countries,” the WFP said. “This would feed 42 million people for one year, and avert the risk of famine.”<\/p>\n

The billionaires have not taken the WFP up on its modest plan to save millions of lives with a miniscule fraction of their pandemic profits.<\/p>\n

The investigative outlet ProPublica<\/em> reported<\/a> in June that Musk, along with other U.S. billionaires, “paid $0 in federal income taxes” in 2018. Late last year, Musk garnered widespread publicity for selling off a portion of his Tesla stock<\/a>, triggering a significant taxable event.<\/p>\n

But as Bob Lord, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, observed in a recent blog post<\/a>, Musk “has paid tax in 2021 \u2014 lots of it \u2014 because doing so was by far his best option.”<\/p>\n

“Did he pay more tax than any American in history, as he claims? Probably,” Lord wrote. “But he also received compensation of more than $20 billion, which almost certainly dwarfs the compensation any other CEO in American history has ever been paid, from a company with profits not remotely commensurate with that level of compensation.”<\/p>\n

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2021 is coming to a close with the 10 richest people in the world all worth more than $100 billion https:\/\/t.co\/EP8FwDGy1Q<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Nick Vega (@atNickVega) December 30, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n