Jeff Bezos stated in an interview on CNBC that Americans earning in the bottom half of incomes should not pay taxes. “Why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes?” Bezos said. “That’s $1,000 that could help with rent, or groceries, or anything … To me, it’s kind of absurd that we’re doing this. We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington. They should be sending her an apology.”
Bezos emphasized that the lower half of earners contributes just 3% of total tax revenue, while the nurse spends roughly 16% of her salary on taxes, funding a small share of the federal budget. This perspective underscores the disproportionate impact that tax obligations have on lower-income individuals compared to their contribution to overall tax revenue.
Despite being one of the richest individuals, Bezos expressed empathy for the financial challenges faced by middle-class Americans. Historically, he has paid low taxes, including not paying any income tax in 2007 and 2011. A ProPublica investigation revealed that between 2006 and 2018, Bezos’s wealth increased by $127 billion, but he reported only $6.5 billion in income, resulting in a tax rate of about 1%.
He noted that Americans are not taxed on unrealized capital gains, which allows wealthy individuals to defer tax payments until they sell their stocks. Bezos mentioned that ultra-wealthy individuals often use stock as collateral for loans to live off, thus avoiding tax liabilities on their holdings.
In the conversation, CNBC reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin highlighted the tax rate disparity between billionaires like Bezos and average Americans. Bezos insists that the U.S. has a spending problem rather than a revenue problem, claiming the most progressive tax system in the world where the top 1% pays 40% of tax revenue.
He acknowledged that his tax rate is lower than that of many Americans, even after his Amazon stock sales. “If people want me to pay more billions, then let’s have that debate,” Bezos said. “But don’t pretend that that’s going to solve the problem. You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not going to help that [nurse] in Queens.”
Bezos argued for the productive use of tax revenue, referencing the significant $7.4 trillion federal budget. He suggested that effective tax allocation could improve public transit systems and the resources available in public schools.
He expressed skepticism about the government’s ability to efficiently distribute tax revenues to genuinely support those in need. “If you really want to have a progressive tax system, you also want that money to actually be helping and not just dissolving in, you know, in like administrative bureaucracy,” Bezos stated.
Bezos concluded that while it may be unrealistic to think billionaires could be taxed fairly, it is also unrealistic to ignore the potential impact of such taxation.
