BILLIONAIRES must be “taxed out of existence,” campaigners have demanded as new data found that their wealth grew to the highest peak ever in 2025.

In a report published by Oxfam today at the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the British charity revealed that billionaires’ ever-expanding fortunes are “leading to dangerous political inequality.”

As world leaders and businesses meet in Switzerland to discuss their so-called plans for “improving the state of the world through public-private co-operation,” campaigners and unions decried a “corrupt economic system.”

Globally, billionaire wealth has now reached a historic high of $18.3 trillion (about £13.6tn), the report found, prompting Oxfam to call the 2020s the “billionaires’ decade.”

As one in four people do not regularly have enough to eat and almost half of the world lives in poverty, Oxfam said that the increase in billionaire wealth in 2025 alone ($2.5tn) would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over.

The report also laid bare the relationship between money and power, finding that the ultra rich are about 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than non-billionaires.

Almost half of people surveyed in 66 countries say that “the rich often buy elections” in their country.

For the first time, the number of billionaires has reached 3,000, as their wealth has gone up 81 per cent since 2020, according to the report.

And Britain stays well within global trends of wealth concentration and inequality, as the richest 56 Britons own more than the combined wealth of 27 million people.

Nuri Syed Corser, from the campaign group War on Want, said the report showed “how corrupt our economic system is.”

He told the Morning Star: “Billionaires are amassing unimaginable wealth while working-class people struggle and public services crumble.

“This inequality isn’t natural or inevitable, it exists because the super-rich use their influence to shape the economy in their favour, and we can reverse it.”

He said PM Sir Keir Starmer’s government should take this as a wake-up call, saying it should “tax the super-rich, cap extreme wealth, and work with other countries to build a fairer global system through the new UN Tax Convention.”

Izzie McIntosh, a campaigner at Global Justice Now and co-ordinator of Make Them Pay, also called for further government action to stem the historic levels of inequality.

“The existence of every billionaire reflects a failure of government policy,” she said.

“The fact that the average billionaire in Britain has seen their wealth grow by hundreds of millions last year alone proves that our government is not being nearly tough enough on this reprehensible inequality.“

She added that the “only minority destroying this country are billionaires. It’s time to tax them out of existence so we can redistribute their wealth to people, planet and our communities.”

Union representatives told the Star the report revealed a reality in Britain which “makes no sense.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “We’re now living in a country where 56 individuals have a combined wealth greater than 27 million other people. It makes no sense.

“While most working people have been trying to keep their heads above water in a cost-of-living crisis, billionaires have never had it better.

“People are sick and tired of struggling to get by while those at the top help themselves to a huge slice of the pie. It’s time workers saw a bigger share of the wealth they create.”

He added that the implementation of the Employment Rights Act, which became law last December, will bring in “sensible reforms to improve working lives for millions of people.”

Mr Nowak also welcomed taxes on dividends and investments as well as new taxes on mansions and online gambling, which were put forward by the Chancellor in last year’s Budget.

“But in the years ahead we need to go far further — more must be done to ensure the wealthiest pay their fair share,” he added.

Unison head of policy Sampson Low highlighted those feeling wealth inequality most acutely, claiming “the super rich have zero concept of the daily realities for millions of people in the UK.”

“Growing inequality over pay and wealth is felt hardest by those struggling to deal with the cost-of-living,” he said.

“Holding down wages for years, coupled with rising bills, have left most workers worse off.”