How much richer are the rich

And some businesses, such as Bezos' Amazon. At the same time, poverty rates have increased due to hardship created by the pandemic, with the worst effects felt by women and people of color. The number of people living in poverty globally doubled to more than million during the first nine months of the pandemic, the anti-poverty group Oxfam said in January.

In the U. Various wealth taxes have been proposed in recent years, partly in response to widening inequality. Among them are Senator Elizabeth Warren's "ultra-millionaire" tax, introduced earlier this month with Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Brendan Boyle. All three are Democrats. Applied only to U. Others across the globe are also taking more drastic action, by relocating to countries and areas where the tax regimes and societies are more benign for the mega-rich.

The number of calls from U. For many in emerging countries, fears that strains on public services could lead to civil unrest have prompted younger generations of wealthy families particularly to seek opportunities abroad. Cindy Ostrager, tax director at Clarfeld Citizens Private Wealth, said she also saw many ultra-wealthy clients moving out of New York City into their vacation getaways in the likes of the Hamptons, initially to escape the worst of the pandemic, and subsequently staying to pay lower taxes.

By early March, the wealth of U. Biden also will close a loophole that often allows the wealthy to avoid paying taxes on investment gains for their entire lives. Restore the top individual tax rate to Raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, leaving it still far below the 35 percent rate in Corporate taxes are largely paid by the owners of corporations, which means the stockholders.

Billionaires are among the wealthiest 1 percent that own over half of all corporate stock. Curb offshore corporate tax dodging by eliminating incentives to outsource jobs and shift profits to tax havens.

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