Nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires across 24 countries have urged global leaders to increase taxes on the super-rich, highlighting concerns of their influence on politics.
An open letter was released, coinciding with the World Economic Forum in Davos, calling on global leaders to close the gap between the super-rich and the rest of the world.
The letter, signed by notable names, including the actor and filmmaker Mark Ruffalo, the musician Brian Eno and the film producer and philanthropist Abigail Disney, says extreme wealth is polluting politics, driving social exclusion and fuelling the climate emergency.
"A handful of global oligarchs with extreme wealth have bought up our democracies; taken over our governments; gagged the freedom of our media; placed a stranglehold on technology and innovation; deepened poverty and social exclusion; and accelerated the breakdown of our planet," it reads.
It added, "What we treasure, rich and poor alike, is being eaten away by those intent on growing the gulf between their vast power and everyone else."
"When even millionaires, like us, recognise that extreme wealth has cost everyone else everything else, there can be no doubt that society is dangerously teetering off the edge of a precipice."
According to Forbes, Donald Trump assembled the richest cabinet in US history last year after being re-elected as president, with an estimated joint worth last August of $7.5 billion.
A poll conducted for the Patriotic Millionaires group, who campaign for higher taxes on the super-rich, found that 77% of millionaires from G20 countries think extremely wealthy individuals buy political influence.
The development charity Oxfam reported this week that a record number of billionaires were created last year, taking the global total to more than 3,000 for the first time.
