Oxfam report makes clear case for additional wealth taxes
- Top 1% continue to plunder our shared Earth’s resources
Labour Senator Annie Hoey said Government must tackle climate laggards and impose wealth and robust carbon taxes of the top 1%.
Senator Hoey said:
“The gaps between the have lots and have nots continue to widen in this country. The richest 10% of people in Ireland cause 27% of our emissions, yet there has been no effort by Government to take these people to task.
“There’s a clear case for the introduction of a series of discrete targeted wealth taxes to broaden the availability of funds to support those who need it most, and devise a pathway towards tackling the impacts of climate change in Ireland.
“By clearly defining the parameters of a well designed wealth tax, the State can ensure that it is targeting those with excessive wealth to be fairly redistributed to those who need it most.
“We face into another winter of working people struggling to afford to keep their heating on. This Government must shift the tax focus away from those who work the hardest to those who have the most.
“The question of taxes on vulgar levels of wealth is now a moral and ethical question as well as an economic one.
“Targeting those with too much to help those with too little would represent genuine economic progress and the beginning of a new social contract and economy that works for all of us.
“The climate crisis is here, it’s happening now. Ireland’s climate has changed. We’re experiencing more intense rainfall and more storms, yet we are still lacking a long-term strategy for decarbonisation. We need action now.”