A recent survey has found that nearly half of all millionaires from G20 countries think extreme wealth is a threat to democracy.

The survey was conducted by Survation on behalf of Patriotic Millionaires and found that three-quarters of those questioned supported higher taxes on wealth.

For the survey more than 2300 people from G20 countries with more than $1 million investable assets, excluding their homes, were polled.

The survey found 74 per cent were in support of higher taxes on wealth to aid the cost-of-living crisis and improve public services.

Some 75 per cent also support a two per cent wealth tax on billionaires being introduced, and 58 per cent support the tax for people with more than $10 million.

Additionally, 72 per cent believe extreme wealth can buy political influence and 54 per cent maintain that extreme wealth is a threat to democracy.

Among those lending their voice to the cause is award-winning actor Brian Cox, who played billionaire Logan Roy in Succession.

In an Oxfam press release, he said we were living in a “second Gilded Age”.

“Billionaires are wielding their extreme wealth to accumulate political power and influence, simultaneously undermining democracy and the global economy,” he said.

“It’s long past time to act. If our elected officials refuse to address this concentration of money and power, the consequences will be dire.”

Tweet from @OxfamAustralia

Millionaires sign letter to Davos

Cox is among the 250 millionaires and billionaires who signed an open letter to the leaders gathering for the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Their message is simple: “Elected leaders must tax us, the super rich. We’d be proud to pay more.”

The wealthy warned of “catastrophic” consequences for society if leaders of the world’s leading economies neglected to take steps to address economic inequality.

They said their “drive for fairer taxes” is by no means “radical”, but instead is a “return to normality based on a sober assessment of current economic conditions”.

They go on to say they are the people who invest in start-ups, grow businesses, shape the stockmarkets and promote sustainable economic growth, but also benefit most from the “status quo”.

“But inequality has reached a tipping point, and its cost to our economic, societal and ecological stability risk is severe – and growing every day. In short, we need action now,” the letter stated.

“Our request is simple: We ask you to tax us, the very richest in society. This will not fundamentally alter our standard of living, nor deprive our children, nor harm our nations’ economic growth. But it will turn extreme and unproductive private wealth into an investment for our common democratic future.”

They noted that the idea of trickle-down economics “has not translated into reality”, but instead resulted in stagnating wages, crumbling infrastructure, failing public services, and destabilised democracy.

‘Elites’ must take crisis ‘seriously’

Aside from Cox, there are other famous names on the list, like actor Simon Pegg, Valerie Rockefeller, heir to the Rockefeller fortune and Disney heiress, Abigail Disney.

Disney has criticised Disney’s CEO in the past and advocated for workers at the company’s theme parks.

“Throughout history, pitchforks were the inevitable consequence of extreme discontent. But today the masses are turning to populism, which is on the rise throughout the world. It is happening here,” she said in an Oxfam press release.

“We already know the solution to protect our institutions and stabilise our country – it’s taxing extreme wealth. What we lack is the political fortitude to do it.

“Even millionaires and billionaires like me are saying it’s time. The elites gathering in Davos must take this crisis seriously.”

Disney heiress Abigail Disney has advocated for taxing the rich for years.

Many of the people who signed the letter are philanthropists, but they noted that donations, philanthropy or anything on the individual level is inadequate to address economic inequality.

“We need our governments and our leaders to lead. And so we come to you again with the urgent request that you act – unilaterally at the national level, and together on the international stage,” the letter read.

The survey also found that 70 per cent believed the economy would be stronger if extreme wealth was more heavily taxed and the money was put into public services and national infrastructure.

More than half of the respondents said they believe that extreme wealth is exacerbating climate change.

An Oxfam report from 2023 found that in 2019, the richest 1 per cent produced as much carbon pollution as the five billion people who made up the poorest two-thirds of the population.

In the Proud to Pay More report, Disney said to prevent further warming, which would leave already-vulnerable communities more at risk to inequality, governments are going to need more money.

“It is only right that those funds come from those who can most afford it – and those who are overwhelmingly responsible for the problem in the first place,” she said.