World leaders have a chance to raise taxes for rich people like me. I’m begging them to take it | Abigail Disney

The public supports it, and even the rich are calling for it. We must prevent a deeper slide into global inequality

• Abigail Disney is a member of Patriotic Millionaires

The need to tax rich people like me has never been so dire. Extreme wealth concentration in the hands of a few oligarchs is a threat to democracy the world over. Meanwhile, we are cooking our planet and irreversibly damaging our biosphere.

Last summer was the hottest on record, and we're also seeing historic wildfires, biblical floods, devastating droughts and rising sea temperatures. It is only right that the funds to mitigate further damage and develop green energy systems come from those most able to pay - and who, by the way, are the ones disproportionately driving it with their jet-setting, gas-guzzling lifestyles.