Oxfam is railing against inequality again today, publishing a report that lectures us about ‘a rigged economy’ led by ‘an elite of mostly white males‘, and recommending ‘progressive‘ tax hikes to fund Covid-19 relief. Stunning hypocrisy from a charity that paid its boss $380,039 last year and shared $2,612,503 among its top 12 executives – an average of $217,708 each. Millionaires attacking billionaires…

Basically Oxfam are once again advocating worldwide socialism, this year’s specific twist is a supposedly temporary Covid tax. The wonks at the Institute of Economic Affairs wasted no time in firing back:

“Taxing the rich ever more may make for good headlines but it misleads the public into thinking that cuts at the top will automatically lead to more wealth at the bottom. In reality, interventionist policies are far more likely to destroy wealth than successfully redistribute it.”  

Rather than obsessing over the net worth of a few billionaires, perhaps Oxfam should spend some time learning basic economics. The IEA’s Len Shackleton focuses on the impracticality of the global taxes Oxfam advocates: 

“Oxfam should offer a more mature understanding of how wealth is generated through creating goods and services which meet people’s needs […] A ‘temporary tax’ on the ‘excess profits’ made by 32 global corporations, Oxfam’s key proposal, would be very difficult to design, and almost impossible to implement. It would not fall on top billionaires alone – if at all – but as with all profit taxes the burden would fall on shareholders (including many pension funds), consumers and employees of these corporations.”  

None of this is surprising from Oxfam, which in recent years has morphed from a bunch of do gooders focused on disaster emergencies, into a bunch of left-wing activists permanently lobbying for worldwide socialism. Seemingly more interested in attacking capitalism than actually helping vulnerable people…