A hundred and two millionaires and billionaires from nine countries have published an open letter calling for permanent wealth taxes on the richest people to help reduce extreme inequality and raise revenue for long-term increases in public services.

An initiative of the Patriotic Millionaires, Millionaires for Humanity, and taxmenow, the IN TAX WE TRUST campaign calls on government and business leaders attending the virtual World Economic Forum this week to address this year’s theme, “How do we work together and restore trust?” by reforming the tax system. “Trust—in politics, in society, in one another—is not built in tiny side rooms only accessible by the very richest and most powerful. It’s not built by billionaire space travelers who make a fortune out of a pandemic but pay almost nothing in taxes and provide poor wages for their workers,” the letter states. “Trust is built through accountability, through well-oiled, fair, and open democracies that provide good services and support all their citizens. And the bedrock of a strong democracy is a fair tax system. A fair tax system.”

According to a new report from the Fight Inequality Alliance, Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam, and the Patriotic Millionaires, a wealth tax of just 2 percent for the 3.6 million people around the world with more than $5 million in wealth, 3 percent for the 183,000 with over $50 million, and 5 percent for the 2,660 billionaires could generate $2.52 trillion annually. Globally, that amount could help lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty; manufacture enough vaccines for the world, and deliver universal health care and social protection for all 3.6 billion citizens of low- and lower middle-income countries.

“This injustice baked into the foundation of the international tax system has created a colossal lack of trust between the people of the world and the elites who are the architects of this system,” the letter states. “Bridging that divide is going to take more than billionaire vanity projects or piecemeal philanthropic gestures—it’s going to take a complete overhaul of a system that up until now has been deliberately designed to make the rich richer.”

Signatories include Cynda Collins Arsenault (United States), Institute for Policy Studies senior scholar Chuck Collins (U.S.), film producer and heiress Abigail Disney (U.S.), her brother Tim Disney (U.S.), entrepreneur and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer (U.S.), and entrepreneur Gemma McGough (United Kingdom).

“The insane reality is that whilst billions face a daily struggle to survive during this pandemic, billionaire wealth is spiraling out of control. This cannot be right,” said Jenny Ricks, global convenor of the Fight Inequality Alliance. “The multiple crises we face from vaccine inequality to climate breakdown have a vice-like grip on people’s lives that is not letting up. For years Davos has shown us the elites cannot and will not end the virus of inequality they have helped to create and built their fortunes on the back of.”

For the complete list of signatories, see the IN TAX WE TRUST website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/LIgorko)