Global Billionaire Wealth Increases to $4 Trillion During Pandemic

While billionaires were getting richer, the pandemic caused the global economy to shrink by 3.5 percent in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund. COVID-19 has been an accelerant on global inequality, with acute adverse impacts on women, youth, the poor, the informally employed, and those who work in contact-intensive sectors.

The Need for Wealth Taxation

If global billionaires had paid an annual wealth tax in 2020, modelled on the "Ultra-Millionaire Tax" levy proposed by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, they would have paid an estimated $345 billion in wealth taxes. Based on the current expectations of wealth growth, a small wealth tax such as this would raise $4.14 trillion over the next decade. Of course, there is no institutional body to levy such a global wealth tax and this is for illustrative purposes.

The "Ultra-Millionaire Tax" would levy an annual 2 percent wealth tax on assets over $50 million -and a 3 percent tax on assets over $1 billion. Our estimates track this law by exempting wealth under $50 million and tax assets between $50 million and $1 billion at a 2 percent rate.

The annual revenue from this wealth tax would be more than twice the estimated $141.2 billion cost of delivering COVID-19 vaccines to every person on the planet, according to estimates from Oxfam.

The U.S. accounts for less than one-third of billionaire wealth on the global list. In the US alone, if this tax was applied to US billionaires on the Forbes Billionaires List, this would generate $120 billion a year, or $1.5 trillion over the next decade.

Wealth in the United Kingdom:

In the UK, between March 2020 and 2021, the 54 UK billionaires saw their wealth increase PS40 billion (US $54.9 billion), a gain of 36 percent. Their combined wealth increased from PS112.3 billion (US $154 billion) to PS152.36 billion (US $208.9 billion).

In the same year the UK economy shrank by a record 9.9 percent and the number of people on Universal Credit - a welfare payment that supports people out-of-work or on a low income - increased by 98% to 6 million people.

In December 2020, the UK Wealth Tax Commission recommended that a one-off wealth tax in the UK, of 1 percent over 5 years, could generate PS260 billion if applied to individuals with wealth over half a million pounds. If the 54 billionaires in the UK paid a one-time 5 percent wealth tax, exempting PS500,000, it would raise an estimated US $8.6 billion, or PS6.28 billion.

Pandemic Wealth Gainers: The 500 Percent Club

Fourteen global billionaires have seen their wealth increase more than 500 percent over the pandemic. Here they are, with a summary of their percent gain and amount of wealth increased over past year.

1. Zhong Shanshan (3,300 percent/$66 billion gain), Saw his wealth rise an eye-popping 3,300 percent during the pandemic year, from $2 billion to $68 billion. The wealth surge was the result of two of his companies going public in 2020, Nongfu bottled water and Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy.
2. Tatyana Bakalchuk (1,200 percent/$12 billion gain), Founded the e-commerce apparel company, Wildberries. Her wealth increased by $12 billion over the pandemic, rising from $1 billion to $13 billion.
3. Zuo Hui (714 percent/$15.9 billion gain), China. Chair of Homelink, China's largest real estate brokerage company. Wealth increased $15.9 billion, from $2.2 billion to $17.9 billion
4. Bom Kim (670 percent/$6.7 billion gain), Wealth has increased 670 percent, from $1 billion to $7.7 billion over the pandemic year. Founder of the e-commerce giant Coupang, the Amazon of South Korea. Kim's fortune surged as high as $11 billion after the company's IPO in early March.
5. Dan Gilbert (642 percent/$41.7 billion gain), Owner of Quicken Loans, which capitalized on cloistered citizens tapping online financing. His wealth increased 641.5 percent, from $6.5 billion to $48.2 billion over the pandemic year.
6. Cheng Yixiao (614 percent/$13.5 billion gain), Co-founder of Kuaishou, a video platform based in Beijing. His wealth increased $13.5 billion, from $2.2 billion to $15.7 billion during the pandemic year.
7. Su Hua (583 percent/$16.9 billion gain), Also a co-founder of video platform and live-streaming app, Kuaishu. Hua's wealth increased $16.9 billion during the pandemic year, from $2.9 billion to $19.8 billion.
8. Ernest Garcia II (567 percent/$13.6 billion), US. Wealth increased 566.7 percent, from $2.4 billion to $16 billion during the pandemic year. Biggest shareholder of Carvana, the online car sales and auto-financing giant.
9. Elon Musk (559 percent/$137.5 billion gain), Musk is now the third wealthiest person in the world as his shares in Tesla, Space-X and other companies that he owns continue to climb. His wealth increased $558.9 percent, from $24.6 billion to $162.1 billion during the pandemic year (down $9.9 billion from March 17, 2021, so fluctuating wildly).
10. Brian Armstrong (550 percent/$5.5 billion gain), US. Chief executive of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the country. Wealth increased 550 percent, from $1 billion to $6.5 billion during the pandemic year.
11. Chan Tan Ching-Fen (540 percent, $8.1 billion gain), Hong Kong. Wealth comes from Hang Lung Group, a large real estate founded by her late husband. Wealth increased $1.5 billion to $9.6 billion, an increase of $8.1 billion over the pandemic year.
12. Bobby Murphy (531 percent/$10.1 billion gain), US. Wealth increased 531 percent, from $1.9 billion to $12 billion during the pandemic year. Co-founder of Snapchat, with his Stanford fraternity brother, Evan Spiegel (490%/$9.3 billion gain).
13. Forrest Li (500 percent, $9.5 billion gain), Li's wealth increased $9.5 billion, from $1.9 billion to $11.4 billion during the pandemic year. He is owner of the online gaming and e-commerce platform, Sea.

View the report HERE and the complete digital worksheet on Global Billionaires HERE.