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A Moroccan employee paid to the minimum wage must work 154 years to earn the annual salary of a billionaire, notes an Oxfam-Morocco report on inequality in the country. The report also puts forward proposals to combat this situation by adopting a fair taxation.
May 3rd and 4th will be held in Morocco the seat of taxation. On this occasion, Oxfam-Morocco published a report under the title: An equalitarian Morocco, a fair taxation, in which this organization draws up an inventory of inequalities in the country. The document states among other things that a billionaire earns an average annual salary 154 times greater than that of an employee at the minimum salary. Oxfam is also proposing proposals to reduce inequalities based on fair taxation.
“Inequalities in the Kingdom […] are the result of public policies that are inadequate and encouraged by international institutions,” says Abdeljalil Laroussi, Oxfam-Morocco advocacy and campaign manager. “Since independence, Morocco has adopted growth models that are deepening inequalities and putting a large part of the population in a situation of extreme vulnerability,” he continues.
The official emphasizes that inequalities hamper the fight against poverty, undermine growth and exacerbate social tensions. “It is urgent that politicians and businesses take the problem head on,” he says, arguing that “citizens can also act to reverse the trend by challenging policy makers!”.
According to the report, it would take 154 years for an employee to minimum wage “to win what receives in 12 months one of the billionaires of Morocco”. The document also states that “the son of a senior manager is 456 times more likely to belong to the same socio-professional category as his father, compared to a worker’s son”.
Regarding the repair of national wealth, the study reveals that in 2018, the three richest billionaires in the country alone held $ 4.5 billion, while 1.6 million people were living in poverty and one-eighth of Moroccan women were in a situation of vulnerability, “that is to say, capable of falling into poverty at any time”.
Mr Laroussi therefore believes that “this economic model which concentrates immense wealth in the hands of a minority while millions of people living in extreme poverty is unfair and failing”.
In this sense, Oxfam-Morocco asserts that solutions exist to put an end to injustices and this implies that “public decision-makers adopt ambitious measures to change the situation”.
“Tax justice is an excellent way of social cohesion,” says Asmae Bouslamti, head of the Oxfam-Morocco governance program, according to the same source. “It helps to correct inequalities by redistributing wealth when it is badly distributed initially, and to raise the resources needed to finance infrastructure and public services that benefit the entire community,” she says.
