Rich-lister rakes in $3.5b in Covid era
New Zealand’s richest man, Graeme Hart, has made almost $3.5 billion since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to new analysis from Oxfam, Hart’s wealth has grown by $3,494,333,333 since March 2020 – the equivalent of a $6849 cash payment to more than half a million
New Zealanders.
Oxfam spokeswoman Dr Joanna Spratt said it is a symptom of a broken economic model that a ‘‘fortunate few’’ are able to dramatically increase their wealth while others face immense need.
‘‘While the super-rich amass vast fortunes even during times of global crisis, essential services like healthcare, education and social welfare go underfunded.’’
However, resources are available to give everyone the opportunity to survive and thrive, Spratt said. ‘‘The question is how we fairly distribute our resources. People built this system, so we have the power to fix it.’’
Economist Cameron Bagrie said while income inequality was a fundamental problem, comparing Hart’s wealth with that of low-income New Zealanders was ‘‘ridiculous’’.
‘‘If you’re going to bring it up and comment on it, at least get some hard data that’s got some decent statistics behind it as opposed to compare one individual versus groups.’’ Faced with the challenges of Covid-19, the immediate priority for policymakers, beyond health, was the economic recovery, he said.
‘‘Getting the economy back on its feet is critical because that’s the best way of protecting livelihoods and jobs. Unfortunately, one of the mechanisms we’ve used very heavily to do that – lower interest rates and quantitative easing – while supporting economic prospects, has had unintended side effects.’’
One of those was the ‘‘turbocharging’’ of asset price inflation, which had widened the gap between the ‘‘haves and the have-nots’’.
‘‘We’re seeing that very strongly in New Zealand. The number on the jobseeker benefit is still going up and yet the housing market has gone up 17 per cent in 12 months,’’ Bagrie said. ‘‘I’m not convinced the policy mix is right. I’d like to see fiscal policy doing more and monetary policy doing less. It’d be a better mix if the Government was spending more and interest rates were not this low.’’
Bagrie said the Government will be looking at the tax system for a way to turn the situation around. ‘‘They’ve already promised not to change taxes so they could have to create something novel in the form of a levy or something similar.’’