Should the rich pay more in tax wealth?

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

It’s a statement that the majority of South Africans, and people the world over, have become accustomed to, as hard as it is to accept.

Simply put, wealthier people are able to invest and risk their money to make more money.

The non-wealthy – and this class has certainly widened over the past decade as the middle class – don’t have that luxury.

As so many households struggle to put food on the table, a study revealing that “the world has never had so many rich people” and “their investments in soaring stock markets have made them wealthier than ever recorded”, is quite incredulous, but not surprising.

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According to consulting firm Capgemini, people with liquid assets of at least $1 million (about R22 million) – labelled the high-net-worth individuals – rose by 5.1% last year to 22.8 million.

According to the annual World Wealth Report, their total wealth reached $86.8 trillion in 2023, a 4.7% increase from the previous year.

The report said: “The year 2023 brought economic growth and improved fortunes for major investment sectors to reverse the falloff. Despite ongoing interest rate uncertainty and rising bond yields, equities surged along with the tech market, fuelled by enthusiasm for generative AI and its potential impact on the economy.”

It begs the question once again, should the rich pay more in tax wealth?