World's richest 1% increased fortunes by $40 trillion in a decade: report

The world's richest one percent have doubled their wealth by $40 trillion over a decade, fueling global inequality as their vast fortunes largely evaded taxation, according to Oxfam.

According to the non-governmental organisation (NGO), the super rich are paying remarkably low taxes, which has doubled economic inequality worldwide to "obscene levels." 

While the rich continue to double their wealth, the rest of the world is "left to scrape for crumbs", it added.

Increasing taxes on the wealthy will be a top priority at the upcoming G20 summit, a group of 20 countries representing 80% of the world's GDP. 

Brazil will propose international cooperation to strengthen tax systems and impose levies on the ultra-wealthy at this week's G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and Friday. 

While most countries, including France, Spain, South Africa, Colombia, and the African Union, have expressed support for the proposal, the US has strongly disagreed. 

The wealth amassed by the world's richest 1 percent is 36 times greater than that of the poorer half of the world's population, according to Oxfam. 

“Billionaires have been paying a tax rate equivalent to less than 0.5 percent of their wealth across the globe", the NGO said. 

Oxfam International's head of inequality policy, Max Lawson, stated, "Momentum to increase taxes on the super-rich is undeniable." 

"Do they have the political will to strike a global standard that puts the needs of the many before the greed of an elite few?" he added. 

The initiative aims to develop strategies for taxing the wealthy and identifying tax evaders among the ultra-rich as G20 nations host at least four out of five of the world's billionaires.