Dr Halima Begum added: “Inequality rips away life opportunities and rights from the majority of citizens, sparking poverty, hunger, resentment, distrust and instability. Research shows increased income inequality drives support for populist parties and anti-establishment messaging since people feel their social status and livelihoods are under threat, leading to anxiety and a sense of being left behind by political elites.
"If the South African G20 establishes a new International Panel on Inequality, it will be a tremendous step forward in addressing the inequality emergency. We urge all G20 nations and others to get behind South Africa and make it happen”
A real opportunity for lasting commitments
The G20 comes at a moment of great geopolitical upheaval. While the U.S. is notably absent from this week’s meetings, its government has championed destructive policies - from reckless tariffs to regressive tax breaks and cuts to life-saving aid - that inflame inequality both within the U.S. and internationally. Other G20 countries have a real opportunity to make lasting commitments in the opposite direction - toward reducing inequality - first by choosing international rules and cooperation that serves ordinary people over global oligarchs.
Since the beginning of the new Trump administration, the U.S. has withdrawn from international tax cooperation and sought to strong-arm countries into abandoning much needed tax reforms. That includes pushing G7 nations to back a deal that would exempt U.S. multinational companies from a landmark global corporate minimum tax. This spiraling race to the bottom is a choice that countries can and should reject.
Oxfam calls for G20 leaders to renew their commitment to a global agenda for the effective taxation of super-rich individuals, agreed at the Brazilian G20 last year, and turn it into action. Only eight cents of every tax dollar collected in G20 countries actually come from wealth.
Oxfam also calls for the G20 to act urgently on debt. More than half of all low-income countries are in, or at high risk of, debt distress according to the IMF. This is taking away funds for schools, hospitals and infrastructure, which is deepening inequality. 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest repayments than on education or health.
The G20’s plan to help countries out of debt has failed. It’s original promise to support countries in restructuring their debt has been too slow and too late. As a result, only four out of 69 eligible countries have so far applied to the scheme, Oxfam says.
These countries are now locked into a vicious cycle. As private lenders withdraw their capital because of increasing risk of default, governments are being forced to borrow from multilateral lenders, like the IMF and World Bank, whose loans often come with stricter conditions like no debt relief and pressure to cut public spending.
