Oxfam report shows massive wealth inequality growing, TASC shows this for Ireland‏

Oxfam report highlights massive inequality on a global level

Report shows system is designed to favour the rich
Recent report by TASC shows Ireland is deeply unequal despite government spin
People Before Profit believes that the recent report by Oxfam ‘An Economy for the 1%’ is a timely reminder that the system of Capitalism is deeply flawed and favours the wealthy in societies across the world. The report shows that 62 people own as much as the poorer half of the world’s population.
A recent report by TASC called ‘The Distribution of Wealth in Ireland’ (2015) also pointed out, specifically in Ireland that ‘wealth is highly concentrated, with 72.7% of net wealth held by the top 20%, which is higher than the Euro Area average of 67.6%. The bottom half of the distribution has around 5% of wealth. It also points out that when looking at the concentration at the top, the results show that the top 10% have more than half of all the net wealth in Ireland (53.8%). The Top 5% have 37.7% while the Top 1% has 14.8%’.
People Before Profit spokesperson, Bríd Smith said-
“We can see from the Oxfam report ‘An Economy for the 1%’ that the 99% in the world are getting poorer at an alarming rate and the richest 1% are getting richer.“People Before Profit has always argued that world-wide the Capitalist system is increasing poverty which in turn is creating further inequality and alienation.
“In Ireland we have the appalling situation with the housing crisis where over 130,000 families are on a waiting list and thousands are homeless including over 1,500 children. In this state we have children going to school hungry with over 5,000 children.
“The government claim that we are in economic recovery but it is abundantly clear that this is a recovery for the rich at the expense of everyone else. Government policy has taken money out of public services and working people’s pockets to put into the hands of the rich.“People Before Profit believe that we should be reversing this regressive wealth inequality through progressive taxation where people are taxed on wealth, corporations pay the actual 12.5% share of tax and that there is a Financial Transaction Tax. This money should be used to fund our health service properly, fund our education system and provide a proper public housing programme”.

For more information- Cllr Bríd Smith ( 087 909 0166)
Twitter- @bridsmith
Notes- Bríd Smith is a People Before Profit General Election candidate for the Dublin South Central Constituency and a Dublin City Councillor.
Link to TASC report- http://www.tasc.ie/publications/the-distribution-of-wealth-in-ireland/

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