Letter Signed By 83 Millionaires Asking To Be Taxed More To Pay For Covid-19

A group of 83 millionaires have written an open letter, pleading with governments around the world to tax them more to help pay for Covid-19 fallout.

Some of those who have signed the letter include British filmmaker Richard Curtis, Disney heirs Abigail and Tim Disney and Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield.

The letter was addressed to 'our fellow global citizens' and the people who signed it called themselves 'Millionaires for Humanity', saying they believe they have a critical role to play in 'healing our world'.

It reads: "No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards. We are not driving the ambulances that will bring the ill to hospitals. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door.

"But we do have money, lots of it.

"Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the years ahead, as our world recovers from this crisis."

The letter acknowledges that the problems revealed by Covid-19 can not be fixed by charity, and the answer lies in adequate taxation of the rich, as the letter states: "People like us."

It continues: "We owe a huge debt to the people working on the frontlines of this global battle. Most essential workers are grossly underpaid for the burden they carry.

"At the vanguard of this fight are our health care workers, 70 percent of whom are women. They confront the deadly virus each day at work, while bearing the majority of responsibility for unpaid work at home.

"The risks these brave people willingly embrace every day in order to care for the rest of us requires us to establish a new, real commitment to each other and to what really matters."

It notes that 'unlike tens of millions of people' the signatories don't have to worry about finances, saying they're less likely to be victims.

It concludes: "So please. Tax us. Tax us. Tax us. It is the right choice. It is the only choice.

"Humanity is more important than our money."

It comes after Bill Gates made it his New Year's Resolution to get the US government to increase the tax that rich people pay.

He wrote: "We've updated our tax system before to keep up with changing times, and we need to do it again, starting with raising taxes on people like me."