Abigail Disney speaks during the Milken Institute World Conference in Beverly Hills, California, USA, on Tuesday April 30, 2019.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | fake pictures
Disney heir Abigail Disney is among the millionaires calling on governments to impose higher taxes on the wealthy to help finance the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Impose us. Impose us. Impose us,” said an open letter from the group calling itself “Millionaires for Humanity.”
The 83 signers of the letter also included Abigail’s brother Tim, Ben & Jerry co-founder Jerry Greenfield, as well as British film director Richard Curtis.
The letter stated that the problems caused and revealed by the pandemic could not be solved with charity, “no matter how generous”, and that governments must take responsibility for raising the funds necessary to address the problems themselves.
“We can make sure we adequately fund our health, school and security systems through a permanent tax increase for the richest people on the planet, people like us,” he said.
Millionaires said a “huge debt” was owed to those working on the front lines of the pandemic, noting that essential workers were “very poorly paid for the burden they carry.”
The signatories said that while they were not the ones caring for the sick, replenishing grocery store shelves or delivering food, they could provide the money the world needs as it recovers from the crisis.
They warned of the need to “rebalance our world before it is too late. There will be no other opportunity to get it right.”
“Unlike tens of millions of people worldwide, we don’t have to worry about losing our jobs, our homes, or our ability to support our families,” the signatories continued, adding that they were also much less likely to be the victims. . of this health emergency.
There have been more than 12.9 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide, while 569,697 people have died from the virus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
It is not the first time that this group has asked for higher taxes from the world’s rich. They also brought their message to the World Economic Forum in January, with a letter titled “Millionaires Against the Gallows.”
The latest letter comes when the world’s richest people have seen their net worth increase by more than 50% amid the pandemic, while UN data warned that the coronavirus could lead to poverty of around 500 million. of more people.
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