Topline
The lower half of earners in the U.S. should pay zero federal income tax, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said on Wednesday, indicating he would advocate for the tax cut with President Donald Trump, as some states have proposed taxes for the wealthiest citizens.
“We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington,” the Amazon chairman said.
Getty Images
Key Facts
The bottom 50% of earners in the U.S. account for 3% of all tax revenue, Bezos told CNBC, adding, “I think it should be zero.”
The average income tax rate was 14.1% in 2023, and the top 1% of taxpayers paid an average rate of 26.3% while the bottom half—who earned about $24,500 on average in gross income—paid an average rate of 3.7%, according to an analysis of the latest IRS data by the Tax Foundation, a tax research think tank.
Income tax revenue from the lowest earners accounts for a “small amount of money for the government,” Bezos said, adding, “We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington. They should be sending her an apology. It really makes no sense.”
Bezos, who used the example of an Amazon worker in New York earning $50,000 annually, called the idea of taxing them “absurd,” arguing, “Why are you taxing them so much?”
Bezos said he would advocate for the tax cuts with Trump, arguing his position would “actually help people.”
Crucial Quote
“You have a bunch of people in this country who are doing really well, but you have a bunch of people in this country who are struggling,” Bezos said. “Some people talk about making the tax system more progressive. How about we start by having the nurse in Queens [who makes $75,000 a year] not pay taxes?”
Amazon’s Lower Wages And Job Instability
The average hourly pay for Amazon delivery drivers is $19, compared to $35 for unionized UPS drivers, according to researchers from Harvard University’s Shift Project, a wage analysis program. If working a 40-hour work week, this would pay roughly $39,520 per year, whereas a 30-hour work week pays out about $39,640 annually. About 26% of Amazon drivers faced hunger, and 33% could not pay utility bills, while most drivers have less than a year of experience and faced lower odds of long-term employment, the researchers said.
Forbes Valuation
Bezos is the fourth-richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $267.3 billion as of Wednesday. He ranks just behind Google cofounders Larry Page ($315.3 billion) and Sergey Brin ($290.7 billion), who trail Tesla’s Elon Musk ($800.8 billion).
Key Background
Several states have proposed taxes on their richest citizens in recent years, including a “billionaires” tax in California that has faced pushback from wealthy residents. Former California resident Brin opposed the one-time, 5% tax on state residents with assets of at least $1.1 billion, arguing he fled the Soviet Union in 1979 and that he doesn’t “want California to end up in the same place.” Peter Thiel was among the first billionaires to exit the state because of the proposed tax, followed by car loan magnate Don Hankey, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and DoorDash cofounder Andy Fang. Some federal lawmakers recently proposed tax cuts for lower earners, including Sen. Corey Booker, D-N.J., whose proposed “Keep Your Pay Act” calls for the first $75,000 of income to be tax-free.
Further Reading
Jeff Bezos Says Bottom Half Of Earners Should Pay Zero In Income Taxes (CNBC)