- The combined wealth of EU billionaires grew over €2 billion a day.
- Over 80% of total tax revenue in EU countries is paid primarily by ordinary Europeans, compared to 9% from companies and just 0.4% from wealth taxes.
- A European wealth tax could raise the equivalent of one year of the proposed EU 7-year budget.
Altogether, the richest 3,600 Europeans now hold as much wealth as the poorest 181 million – equivalent to the populations of Germany, Italy and Spain combined.
“Europe is minting billionaires at a record rate while millions of Europeans are struggling to make ends meet,” said Chiara Putaturo, Oxfam EU tax expert. “This inequality is not by accident, it is by design.”
The report shows how decades of tax policies have been rigged to benefit the super-rich while squeezing ordinary people.
Since the 1980s, EU governments have cut taxes for the super-rich and companies, while relying more heavily on taxes paid mainly by ordinary Europeans, such as wage and consumption taxes.
Today, 8 in every 10 euros of tax revenue in the EU comes from taxes paid primarily by ordinary Europeans. Corporate income tax, the tax companies pay on their profits, makes up just 9% and taxes on wealth only 0.4%.
Ordinary Europeans mostly earn through wages, which are, on average, taxed at a higher rate.
By contrast, the super-rich grow even richer while paying less, using investments and holding companies that are taxed at lower rates or not at all in some EU countries.
Meanwhile, wealth itself is barely taxed. Ten EU countries have no inheritance tax, and only one EU country, Spain, has a net wealth tax. This means the super-rich often pay a much lower effective tax rate on their income and wealth than ordinary people.
While wealth has exploded into the hands of a very few, European governments have grown relatively poorer, with most new wealth going into private pockets instead of public budgets.
In the 1990s, governments owned about 10% of total wealth – now it is almost half at just 6%. Based on the latest data available, Oxfam estimates that if governments had kept that share, EU countries would have an additional 3.6 trillion euros in 2023 to invest in public services.
“The pie got bigger, but the government’s slice shrank – leaving less for schools and hospitals and piling debt on future generations while more goes into the hands of the super-rich. Wealth is not trickling down, it is exploding upwards,” said Putaturo.
“We need an urgent rewrite of tax rules in Europe to make sure everyone plays by them and pays their fair share of tax. The EU needs fresh resources to fund its budget to fight the climate crisis, keep its aid promises, and tackle inequality…
… To do this, the EU should adopt a plan to tax the super-rich and EU countries should not wait – they can act now by increasing taxes on the income and wealth of the super-rich at home”, said Putaturo.
Notes:
Chiara Putaturo is available for interview and comment.
EU Finance Ministers meet tomorrow to discuss the Commission’s recent proposals for new EU own resources. Oxfam proposes that EU Finance Ministers also consider a tax on extreme wealth, a tax on the profits of the fossil fuel industry, and aviation taxes.
Download the report, “A European Agenda to Tax the Super-Rich”, and the accompanying methodology note.
The report found:
- The combined wealth of the EU’s billionaires grew by €405bn over the first six months of 2025, reaching €2.3tn by the end of June.
- The EU counted 487 billionaires in 2025, 39 more than in 2024. This dataset is updated annually in March.
- In 2023, the poorest half of people in the EU (181 million adults) held the same share of Europe’s wealth (3.4%) as the richest 0.001% (3,600 adults).
- The joint population of Germany, Italy and Spain (191 million) is comparable to the number of people with the same wealth as Europe’s 3,600 richest.
- In 2022, more than 80% of total tax revenue in EU countries came from taxes paid primarily by ordinary people, such as personal income, payroll or consumption taxes.
- By comparison, corporate taxes contributed 9% and net wealth taxes (mainly paid by wealthy individuals) contributed 0.4%.
The report lays out a roadmap for the EU and EU countries to tax the super-rich. Oxfam is calling for:
- A wealth tax at rates high enough to reduce inequality.
- Higher top tax rates on personal income for the richest 1%, and to tax income from dividends and capital gains at least the same as wages.
- Progressive and effective inheritance and property taxes; updated to reflect real housing, corporate assets and land values.
- EU-wide rules to stop harmful tax systems that only benefit the super-rich, at the cost of ordinary people.
- A European assets registry to track wealth.
- A European common standard on the taxation of capital.
- Greater transparency on how much the richest actually pay in taxes
According to Oxfam, an EU-wide wealth tax of up to 5% on millionaires and billionaires could raise 286.5bn euros annually. That is equivalent to the Commission’s new proposal for the EU budget on an annual basis.
The report references studies that show that in EU countries, the super-rich pay much lower effective tax rates on their income than ordinary citizens. The definition of income varies in the studies.
For example:
- In Belgium, the richest 1% have an average effective tax rate of 23% on their income, compared to 43% for the average person.
- In Spain, all taxes considered, the richest 1% pay an average effective tax rate of 24% on their income, compared to an average effective tax rate of 35% on household income.
- In Italy, the richest 7% have an average effective tax rate of 32.5% on their income, compared to 50% for the average person.
- In the Netherlands, the richest 0.1% have an effective tax rate of 20% on their income, compared to around 40% for the average working person.
- In France, the richest 0.0002% have an average effective tax rate of 26% on their economic income, compared with 46% and 54% for 99% of the population.
Since the 1980’s, EU countries have cut wealth taxes as well as top income and corporate tax rates drastically, while relying more on labour and consumption taxes – taxes on goods and services – that hit low-income families and persons hardest.
Between 1995 and 2023, the net national wealth in the EU increased by 126.3%, almost entirely due to an increase in net private wealth (+136.1%).
Net public wealth, owned by local and central governments, increased only by 40.4%, and its share decreased from 10% to 6%.
According to the 2025 Eurobarometer, 65% of Europeans support a tax on the wealthiest individuals to ensure they pay a minimum level of taxes.