<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/11/australian-millionaires-super-rich-higher-taxes>
"Dick Smith, Graham Marr and Richard Barnes were the only three Australians
among the nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires who signed an open letter
last month calling on all governments to increase taxes on the super rich.
The open letter, timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos,
argued that extreme wealth was polluting politics, driving social exclusion and
fuelling the climate emergency.
Smith told
Guardian Australia he joined the call for a wealth tax simply
because it would “benefit us greatly”.
“There’s such a large number of billionaires now, and a hell of a lot of
people, I think about 30% of our population, lives pay packet to pay packet,”
he said. “They have no savings at all.”
He added: “One of the things I’ve said consistently is the top 1% should pay
15% more tax. Because the top 1% have the wealth equivalent to about the bottom
30%.” This would bring the top tax rate to about 60%.
Smith and his wife have given away more than $90m throughout their careers, and
are aiming for a total of $100m before they die. When asked why more wealthy
Australians did not sign the letter, Smith said “probably greed”.
“Some of them, I don’t want to mention their names, but [they] don’t give
anything away. It’s sort of a principle, or they’re proud that they’re a
billionaire, and they don’t give any money to charity at all.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
