Ireland’s nine billionaires increased their wealth by 58 per cent since the start of the pandemic. According to a study by Oxfam, wealth of Ireland’s nine billionaires has increased by €18.3 billion (58%) to €49.7 billion since the start of the pandemic.
Oxfam Ireland has called for extreme wealth in Ireland and around the world to be subject to a wealth tax to help fund the recovery from the pandemic.
The group’s estimates show that a 1.5% wealth tax on Irish millionaires owning above €4 million could raise €4 billion in tax revenue. A 1.5% wealth tax on Irish billionaires alone could raise a little over €0.7 billion.
Commenting on the report, Oxfam Ireland CEO Jim Clarken has said: “Central banks pumped trillions of euros into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom.”
“Now is the time to redress that imbalance through progressive wealth taxes, along with other progressive measures such as debt relief and cancellation. Within the EU, the Irish Government could lead by example by introducing a wealth tax of 1.5% on the very wealthiest which would have a positive effect on Ireland’s society as it recovers from the pandemic,” he said.
The data from Oxfam was published in a report called Inequality Kills, with information from the Forbes Real Time Billionaires 2022 List and data provided by Wealth-X.
The nine billionaires listed for Ireland by Forbes are :
Pallonji Mistry, of construction firm Shapoorji Pallonji Group — €12.78 billion, John Grayken, of Lone Star Funds — €6.65 billion, Denis O’Brien, Digicel — €4.02 billion, John Collison and Patrick Collison, of Stripe — €2.80 billion each, John Armitage, of hedge fund Egerton Capital — €2.27 billion, John Dorrance, heir to the Campbell Soup fortune — €2.27 billion, Eugene Murtagh of the Kingspan group — €2.014 billion, Dermot Desmond, financier — €1.927 billion