One-time tax on world's ​richest 10 could pay for all global vaccines: Oxfam

And after all is said and done, the individuals would still be $8 billion richer than they were before the pandemic.

“Billionaires have had a terrific pandemic. Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom. Vaccines were meant to end this pandemic, yet rich governments allowed pharma billionaires and monopolies to cut off the supply to billions of people. The result is that every kind of inequality imaginable risks rising. The predictability of it is sickening. The consequences of it kill,” said International’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher.

The current tax system across the world has been criticised by many, including many who are benefitting from it. Warren Buffet has repeatedly asked for higher income tax rates while groups like the Patriotic Millionaire, a group of more than 100 billionaires and millionaires, have asked political leaders to make the ultra-rich pay their fair share of taxes ahead of the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda 2022 summit.

The situation is not regional either. India added 40 individuals to its billionaires list in 2021, at the same time when 84 percent of Indian households saw a decline in their income due to the pandemic, Oxfam added in its report.