Journalist Harri Tiido describes plan to radically reduce inequality — ERR News
In Estonia, journalist and former diplomat Harri Tiido presented an overview of an idealistic plan for global equality set out in the World Inequality Lab’s Global Justice Report. The document, prepared by 45 authors and researchers from the global inequality database, proposes decarbonizing energy in the current century, reducing material consumption, and significantly cutting inequality in income, wealth, and power.
As ERR News reports, one of the most radical provisions envisages increasing the wealth of the poorest half of humanity 15-fold. At the same time, the share of wealth owned by the billionaire class would have to decline sharply. According to the authors’ calculations, around 90% of the world’s population could double their incomes while working approximately half as much.
Income and working hours
The report envisages that by 2100, average working time will be about 1,000 hours per person per year, compared with the current 2,100 hours. The reduction is expected to occur through technological development, productivity growth, and a shift in employment from production to services, healthcare, and education.
The authors propose setting the average monthly income at €5,000 in all countries by the end of the century. Currently, according to the data cited in the report, this figure ranges from €290 in sub-Saharan African countries to €2,590 in North America; the average figure in Europe is €3,590, while the global average is €1,410.
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The document also envisages increasing annual spending on education to €8,400 per person and on healthcare to €14,000. The share of income received by the wealthiest 10% of the population, according to the authors’ plan, would have to fall from 50% to less than 20%. The share of the bottom half of the population would simultaneously have to increase from about 15% to 37%.
Taxes and wealth redistribution
The plan proposes global taxes on wealth and income. The tax on billionaires’ wealth could reach 20%, while the maximum rate of the global income tax could be 90%. At current levels, as stated in the article, 99% of the world’s population would pay no tax, 0.4% would pay 5%, and 0.001% would pay 90%.
The authors also propose creating a Global Justice Fund and a World Sovereign Fund, to which 10% of global capital assets would be directed. The funds are proposed to be used to compensate states’ spending on the environment, education, and healthcare, including compensation for colonial-era harm and environmental damage.
Under the model for Europe, incomes would decline for 6% of the population, while they would more than double for 28%. The largest income growth is projected for sub-Saharan African countries, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. According to the calculations, the largest decline would affect North America, where incomes would decrease for 14% of the population.
