A giant banner urging billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to pay more tax has been put up near his wedding venue.
Campaign group Everyone Hates Elon and Greenpeace unfurled the 65-ft by 65-ft message in Venice, Italy.
The banner in the city’s iconic St Mark’s Square read: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”
Bezos is reported to have hired and made unavailable large parts of the city to ordinary people and has already faced protests from locals.
He is the second-richest man in the world with an estimated wealth of £150bn.
The multi-million-dollar wedding is reportedly happening over three days, with the wedding ring alone worth as much as £3.7m, as reported by Need To Know.
A spokesperson from Everyone Hates Elon said: “As governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married.
“Just weeks ago, he spent millions on an 11-minute space trip.
“If there was ever a sign billionaires like Bezos should pay wealth taxes, it’s this.”
“While ordinary people struggle to pay the bills, there are more billionaires than ever before.
“These two things are obviously connected – they’re getting richer at our expense. It’s not rocket science: tax billionaires like Jeff Bezos now.”
Clara Thompson, of Greenpeace, said: “While Venice is sinking under the weight of the climate crisis, billionaires are partying like there is no tomorrow on their mega yachts.
“This isn’t just about one person — it’s about changing the rules so no billionaire can dodge responsibility, anywhere.
“The real issue is a broken system that lets billionaires skip out on taxes while everyone else is left to foot the bill. That’s why we need fair, inclusive rules, and they must be written at the UN.”
Recent polling by Oxfam and Tax Justice UK found that 77% of Britons would rather see taxes increased on the very richest than cuts to public spending, while 78% support introducing a 2% wealth tax on net assets worth more than £10m.
The action follows Everyone Hates Elon’s previous viral campaigns including the widely shared “0 to 1939” spoof Tesla advertisement, which attacked Elon Musk over his far-right politics and garnered tens of millions of views online.
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