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The 10 richest men in the world doubled their fortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic, a report published Monday by advocacy group Oxfam said, highlighting how the global health crisis has deepened the divide between the haves and have-nots as well as the need for policy intervention to address these “deadly” inequities.

While the wealth of the world’s 10 richest men more than doubled — increasing from approximately $700 billion to $1.5 trillion between March 2020 and November 2021 — the incomes of approximately 99% of people around the globe fell during that time, and more than 160 million people have been forced into poverty, the Oxfam report added.

The poverty and economic justice advocacy group calculated the wealth gains of the ultra-elite based on Forbes’ real-time data on billionaires. The richest men were Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault & family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffett.

Information on the falling incomes of the global 99% was taken from World Bank data, Oxfam said in its methodology.

The calculations also indicate that the wealth of the world’s billionaires has increased more since COVID-19 began than it has in the last 14 years.

“Billionaires have had a terrific pandemic. Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom,” Oxfam International Executive Director Gabriela Bucher said in a statement Monday accompanying the latest report.

Bucher added that if the 10 richest men in the world were to lose 99% of their wealth, they would still be richer than 99% of all the people on this planet.

The wealth of the world’s billionaires tends to be more tied up in stocks than their less-wealthy counterparts. In the U.S., the wealthiest 1% of households in the U.S. own more than half of all the publicly traded stock in the market, according to Federal Reserve data, and the bottom 50% of households own less than 1%.

While the pandemic recovery in the labor market and economy as a whole is still sputtering, the stock market has rallied sharply since March 2020 in part due to monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve — leading to massive, often untaxed, wealth gains for the rich and leaving the poor who don’t own any market shares behind.

Oxfam said this stark inequality is killing people because of lack of access to health care, hunger and more. The group is advocating for a tax on the ultra-rich to address these deadly inequities.

Bucher added that taxation is one of the key ways to start “righting the violent wrongs of this obscene inequality.”

The report calling for a new tax targeting the world’s wealthiest comes after an investigation into the taxes of billionaires, published by the nonprofit news organization ProPublica last year, found that the ultra-wealthy are able to use legal loopholes to avoid paying taxes on wealth gains.

The ProPublica report published tax documents of the wealthy and said that while the median American household paid 14% of their income in federal taxes, the wealthiest 25 Americans had an average so-called “true tax rate” of just 3.4% of the amount their wealth grew each year between 2014 and 2018. This was in large part due to keeping their reported income, and thus reported income tax, to just a fraction to what their net worth actually is and storing most of their wealth in stocks — which are only taxed once they are sold.

The Oxfam report cited these differing tax rates and is advocating for billionaires to pay taxes every year on their wealth increases — whether these gains are realized or not (i.e. whether a billionaire sells the stock after it rises in value or holds onto it to avoid paying taxes on those gains).

While the idea of a billionaires tax has gained momentum in Washington and beyond in recent years, especially over the pandemic, it has faced an uphill battle in implementation. Critics call these type of taxes on unrealized gains unconstitutional based on the definition of income.

The researchers at Oxfam, meanwhile, view a tax on the rich as an imperative and obvious way to address the “deadly inequality” wrought by the pandemic.

“One of the single most powerful tools we have to address this level of egregious and deadly inequality is to tax the rich,” Abby Maxman, the chief of Oxfam America, said in a statement Monday. “Instead of lining the pockets of the ultra-wealthy, we should be investing billions of dollars into our economy, our children and our planet, paving the way for a more equal and sustainable future.”

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(NEW YORK) — Some automakers tout engine performance, cutting-edge technology or exclusivity to attract buyers. Japanese automaker Subaru has a different approach.

In 2019 the company transformed 10,000 square feet of the Javits Convention Center in New York into a state-of-the-art immersive exhibit where Yellowstone’s Old Faithful geyser and Denali’s snowcapped peak were the focus — not the company’s sport utility vehicles.

Deer, foxes and muskrats can be spotted along the walking trails at Subaru’s Indiana facility, the sole U.S. manufacturing plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. Materials on site are either reused, recycled or repurposed and in 2004 the plant achieved zero landfill status — another industry first.

“Business has to have a purpose besides selling cars and making money — it has to make our society better,” Thomas Doll, president and CEO of Subaru of America, Inc., told ABC News. “We pride ourselves that we have that community aspect.”

Subaru, a longstanding partner of the National Parks Foundation, has given more than $68 million to organizations working to conserve national parks and helped fund projects to protect over 85 million acres in 400 national parks. The company also donates millions of dollars to various charities such as Make-A-Wish and ASPCA as part of its “Share the Love” event, now in its 14th year. Shelter puppies are often the stars of Subaru’s auto exhibits and the marque has helped find homes for more than 74,000 rescue animals across the country.

“Subaru’s support of various causes attracts a certain type of buyer and really does contribute to their success,” Ed Kim, president and chief analyst of AutoPacific, told ABC News. “Subaru customers are among the most affluent.”

Industry watchers agree that Subaru could do even more to protect national parks and the planet: Build more EVs. Owners who are eager for an all-electric Subaru will have to wait until later this year, when the Solterra SUV enters production.

“We’re a small company but we’re not afraid of EVs,” Doll said.

Slower road to electric vehicles

The small automaker decided early on to tap into potential markets that were overlooked by mainstream brands, according to Kim.

“It was the first auto brand that actively marketed to the LGBTQ community when no one else was doing that,” he said. “It attracted a lot of LGBTQ customers and became a brand for people who identified with a more progressive mindset.”

Karl Brauer, executive analyst of iSeeCars.com, said Subaru’s aggressive push as a lifestyle utility automaker — one that also offered standard all-wheel drive for its vehicles — was prescient and helped boost sales.

“Subaru made off-road vehicles a core component of its entire brand image a decade or more ahead of the industry,” he told ABC News. “The company decided what it wanted to be and it’s worked really well. It’s cultivated a fairly specific and loyal customer base.”

The company, though, has been surprisingly slow to bring an electric vehicle to the market. Subaru currently only makes one hybrid — the Crosstrek plug-in. In November, it debuted the Solterra, an AWD, emissions-free ute that was developed in partnership with Toyota. The Solterra gets an estimated range of more than 220 miles and produces 215 horsepower from its front and rear electric motors. Sales begin in mid-2022.

“It’s a technically advanced EV that’s versatile and has a lower center of gravity and better handling,” Doll said.

Federal regulations are going to require that Subaru participate in the electric world, according to Stephanie Brinley, an automotive analyst at IHS Markit.

“The company can’t sit out that part of the market,” she told ABC News. “That’s the reality.”

Added Kim: “The mindset of a Subaru customer is so perfect for electrification. They’d be more than happy to pay more for a hybrid or an EV.”

Chip shortages and younger drivers a challenge

The lack of EVs, however, has not caused the company to lose sales nor customers, according to Brauer. What has? The ongoing global chip shortage. Subaru of America delivered 51,146 vehicles in December, a 19.5% plunge from a year ago. In 2021 the brand sold 583,810 vehicles, a 4.6% drop compared to 2020.

“It’s not a demand problem, it’s a supply problem. We’re trying to recover from this microchip shortage which is much worse than [2020],” said Doll. “Retailers are sold out essentially — each dealer has six cars on average. We have car lines that are sold out. It pains me … but there is nothing Subaru can do. We’re not going to produce cars without certain chips or build a car and park it until a chip comes in.”

Kim noted that all automakers are still struggling to build vehicles and stock showrooms as consumer demand soars.

“The chip shortage is real,” he said. “Subaru is suffering like almost everyone else. The product is sought after but Subaru doesn’t have the means to build cars without all these chips.”

Subaru has another obstacle to conquer this year: Getting young drivers to buy its newly revamped BRZ sports car, a slinky, lightweight rear-wheel drive coupe that’s geared toward male drivers in their late 20s and early 30s. Even Doll has questioned how much longer true performance cars, like the BRZ and WRX sedan, can survive in the U.S. But scuttling production of either car is not on the table — for now.

“The BRZ and WRX are gateways to the brand,” said Doll. “And we’re definitely committed to the manual and expect 85% of customers to buy the manual in the BRZ.”

In fact, performance cars and Subaru’s rally racing history have brought dedicated enthusiasts to the brand, who learned about these conveyances from video games and internet groups.

“So many U.S. enthusiasts wanted the WRX — they were screaming for this car — but it took a while for Subaru’s U.S. division to bring these models to the country,” said Kim. “This is a fantastic performance car with a tremendous legacy in rallying.”

He added, “These buyers skew very heavily male and are not political. There is a cultural divide between Subaru’s regular lineup versus its performance lineup.”

Charitable causes, puppies, conservation, AWD — all these factors have solidified Subaru’s position in the hyper competitive automotive industry, according to Brinley. Now Subaru has to accept that it is no longer a niche automaker.

“A lot of customers connect and identify with the brand,” she said. “The constant challenge for Subaru is brand authenticity.”

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