The world's richest one percent have increased their fortunes by a total of $42 trillion over the past decade, Oxfam reported on Thursday, just before the G20 summit in Brazil where taxing the super-rich is a key agenda item.

Despite this significant gain, taxes on the wealthy have dropped to "historic lows," the NGO stated, warning of "obscene levels" of inequality with the rest of the world "left to scrap for crumbs."

Brazil has prioritized international cooperation on taxing the super-rich during its G20 presidency, a group representing 80 percent of the world's GDP.

At this week's summit in Rio de Janeiro, the group's finance ministers are expected to advance ways to raise levies on the ultra-wealthy and prevent billionaires from dodging tax systems.

The initiative includes developing methodologies to tax billionaires and other high-income earners.

The proposal is set to be fiercely debated at the summit on Thursday and Friday, with France, Spain, South Africa, Colombia, and the African Union in favor, while the United States remains opposed.

Oxfam called it a "real litmus test for G20 governments," urging them to implement an annual net wealth tax of at least eight percent on the "extreme wealth" of the super-rich.

"Momentum to increase taxes on the super-rich is undeniable," said Max Lawson, Oxfam International's head of inequality policy. "Do they have the political will to establish a global standard that prioritizes the needs of the many over the greed of an elite few?"

Oxfam noted that the $42 trillion figure is nearly 36 times more than the wealth accumulated by the poorer half of the world's population.

Despite this, billionaires "have been paying a tax rate equivalent to less than 0.5 percent of their wealth" globally, the NGO said.

Nearly four out of five of the world's billionaires reside in G20 nations, Oxfam highlighted.

Source: AFP