There are now 3,428 entrepreneurs, investors and heirs worth a billion US dollars as their total worth has been estimated at $20.1 trillion on Forbes’ World’s Billionaire’s list
The rich keep getting richer
Planet Earth has a record number of billionaires as a rich list recorded the “largest concentration of wealth ever”. There are now 3,428 entrepreneurs, investors and heirs in this year’s Forbes World’s Billionaires list.
Elon Musk topped the list for the second year in a row with a staggering net worth of $839 billion – three times the fortune of second-placed Larry Page. A record 20 people now have a net worth over $100 billion, up 15 from last year.
There are 390 new-born billionaires this year with Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Dr. Dre and Roger Federer to name a few. US President Donald Trump’s net worth shot up by 27% to a healthy $6.5 billion, placing him 645 globally.
The US has the highest concentration of billionaires with 989 – including 15 of the top 20 – as China and Hong Kong rank second with 610 while India is a distant third with 229. The top five are all located in the United States and work in tech.
The explosion in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and supportive fiscal policies were cited as the reason for the richest people on Earth becoming exorbitantly wealthier.
Last year, a damning report stated that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) bosses could not provide data on how many billionaires pay tax in the UK.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that HMRC “can and must” do more to understand and explain the contribution that the very wealthiest in society make to tax revenue – and to make sure the system was fair.
In the report it states: “HMRC does not know how many billionaires pay tax in the UK or how much they contribute overall.”
And in recommendations suggested workers could look at The Sunday Times Rich List and use artificial intelligence (AI) to dig deeper into an individual’s wealth and assets.
The PAC is now calling for the government body to publish its plan on how it is hoping to increase the tax yield being paid by wealthy taxpayers both domestically and in accounts hidden offshore.
It said HMRC does not collect information on taxpayers’ wealth and says that it only collects the data needed to administer the tax system as required by UK tax legislation.
The report said: “There is much public interest in the amount of tax the wealthy pay. People need to know everyone pays their fair share.”
List of top ten billionaires:
- Elon Musk – $839 billion – Tesla and SpaceX
- Larry Page – $257 billion – Former CEO and current board member of Google’s parent company
- Sergey Brin – $237 billion – Former CEO and current board member of Google’s parent company
- Jeff Bezos – $224 billion – Amazon founder
- Mark Zuckerberg – $222 billion – Facebook funder
- Larry Ellison – $190 billion – Chairman of Oracle
- Bernard Arnault & family – $171 billion – French fashion empire
- Jensen Huang – $154 billion – Nvidia co-founder
- Warren Buffett – $149 billion – Investor
- Amancio Ortega – $149 billion – Spanish clothing retailer
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