The five richest Dutch families have almost as many assets as the poorest 3.2 million people combined, according to charity Oxfam Novib in a new report, news agency Novib reports.

The report, to be published later on Tuesday, claims inequality in terms of wealth in the Netherlands is ‘far greater than previously thought’.

The government should increase the tax on assets and profits to improve the distribution of assets, the charity says. The current tax system focuses on taxing labour rather than assets.

Guts

‘We need to have the guts to tackle this perverse system and move to one in which everyone profits from economic growth,’ Novum quotes the organisation’s director Farah Karimi as saying.

‘International companies and the wealthy elite do all they can to dodge or avoid tax,’ Karimi says. ‘The poorest people in the Netherlands and in developing countries pick up the bill.”

The organisation says the richest 1% of the Dutch owned 20% of the country’s assets before the crisis and this has now risen to 25%. It does not include foreign assets in its calculations.

On Monday, the national statistics office CBS published figures showing there has been little change in the income gap in the Netherlands between 2008 and 2012.