Climate activists have thrown the excessive wealth of the super-rich ‘billionaire broligarchy’ into the spotlight in a powerful projection display across London.
Time to tax billionaires out of existence
Campaign group Climate Resistance projected demands for a wealth tax on government buildings and landmarks across the capital.
The group cast the words “Tax the super-rich” on the Houses of Parliament:
The messages made clear that billionaires should cease to exist:
Meanwhile, it plastered the faces of fat cats on the walls of the Treasury in Westminster. Billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Roman Abramovich, and Jim Ratcliffe appeared alongside the call “Tax them out of existence!”
At the Strand, the projections highlighted the enormous disparity in wealth between the world’s richest and poorest:
The wealthiest 3,000 people now have more wealth than 99% of the planet – all eight billion people. The action also shone a light on billionaires gargantuan culpability for the climate crisis:
Significantly, previous research by Oxfam revealed that the in an average hour and a half, the world’s 50 richest billionaires emit more carbon pollution than the average person does their entire lifetime.
Shining a light on the rigged economy
Amidst the recent cuts, campaigners call on the government to introduce a wealth tax in order to fund social services and climate action.
The new Abolish Billionaires campaign asks the government to place a 100% tax on assets over £10m, end wage theft and worker exploitation, and invest into climate action, and public services.
Calls for a wealth tax intensified from within the Labour Party, as well as unions and equality campaigners following the government’s decision to cut essential disability benefits and humanitarian aid budgets.
According to YouGov, over half of Brits believe billionaires should not exist. And, according to the most recent survey published on 25 March this year, 78% support a wealth tax.
This includes the support of 66% of those with assets over £10m. The richest 1% are responsible for more emissions than two thirds of the global population.
Following Elon Musk’s attempts to intervene in politics across the world, including the UK government, and the rise of the “billionaire broligarchy” in the US, the influence of the super-rich on policy has increasingly become a subject of scrutiny.
Spokesperson for Climate Resistance Sam Simons said:
In projecting a call to tax the super-rich onto the Houses of Parliament, we’re aiming to shine light on the absurdity of our rigged economy that protects the wealthiest while squeezing out everyone else.
The richest 1% own more wealth than the bottom 95%, and they create more pollution in a day than any one of us could in a lifetime. The majority of Britain agrees that billionaires should not even exist. And still, when the government comes looking for money, the most vulnerable are sacrificed and climate targets tossed away to protect the interests of oligarchs.
If the budget is incompatible with decent living standards and a liveable planet, it’s time to bin the budget and finally tax billionaires. It’s time to unrig our economy: tax their billions and fund our futures.
Featured image and additional images via Michelle Sanders/Climate Resistance
