LA and the Caribbean, region with the greatest inequality gap: Oxfam

Mexico City. Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with the largest inequality gap above other regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia or North Africa and the Middle East, after the rich have become richer in the last two decades. rich and the poor much poorer.

On average, between 2000 and 2022, the richest 1 percent of the population accumulated 5.85 times more wealth than the poorest half of the region, hence the need to assume the agenda to establish a global tax on the ultra-rich. Oxfam emphasized.

That richest 1 percent of Latin America and the Caribbean concentrated 44 dollars of every 100 dollars of total wealth, while the poorest half only 7.7 dollars. In the case of Mexico, where the two richest men in the region live, Carlos Slim and Germán Larrea, the same thing happens. The 14 ultra-rich in the country concentrate 8.18 of every 100 pesos of the wealth in the country.

Hence the need to join the initiative to advance a global tax on the ultra-rich, which is being designed by economist Gabriel Zucman, at the request of the Brazilian government.

Oxfam’s call came at the same time that the Regional Tax Cooperation Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC) met on the morning of May 6, under the convocation of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). and gave his support to those of Brazil, which holds the G20 presidency, “on the need to move towards a progressive international tax system”, “mobilization of resources to expand fiscal space” and explore “alternatives to finance measures to make in the face of the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity.”

According to the joint statement, the point of taxing the ultra-rich was not emphasized, but the PTLAC voted in favor of preparing an Annual Work Plan for the PTLAC, to continue advancing in the development of tools that facilitate tax cooperation to regional and international level.

“Mexico’s support for this initiative is crucial, considering that we are the country with the lowest property tax collection in the entire region, equivalent to 0.32 percent of GDP,” declared Alexandra Haas, executive director of Oxfam Mexico. She added that “A progressive tax reform in Mexico cannot be postponed.”

According to an Oxfam Mexico study launched at the beginning of the year, the concentration of wealth in Mexico, Carlos Slim accumulates 4.48 of every 100 pesos of wealth generated in the region, while 36 every 100 people in Mexico (46.8 million) are in poverty, according to the most recent estimates from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy.