Why taxing wealth more effectively can help to reduce inequality and poverty
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
By Oliver Pearce
Since 2014, Oxfam’s Even It Up campaign has been pressing governments to tackle economic inequality because it is hindering efforts to end poverty. Recent World Bank estimates show that according to current economic growth predictions – and if present levels of inequality remain unchanged – in 2030 about 6.5% of the global population will still be living in extreme poverty. Tackling inequality to reduce each country’s Gini index by 1% per year would reduce extreme poverty more than increasing its annual growth rate by one percentage point above forecasts.
Further, International Monetary Fund economists have found that inequality both hampers the power of growth to reduce poverty and diminishes the robustness of growth. Lower inequality tends to be associated with faster and more durable growth.
As noted by former World Bank chief economist Francois Bourguignon , redistribution through taxation and spending policies might achieve: ‘not only greater equality but also ...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
