![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2221577733-e1779376061162.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For roughly 76 million American households, federal income taxes could eventually disappear\u2014if a proposal by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ever becomes reality.<\/p>\n
The now Blue Origin owner argued in a recent interview with CNBC that the bottom half of U.S. earners should pay no income tax, saying that working Americans shouldn\u2019t be placed under increased financial pressure, considering they contribute a relatively small share of total tax revenue anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom half of income earners in this country pay only 3% of the taxes,\u201d Bezos said. \u201cI think it should be zero.\u201d<\/p>\n
To make his case, Bezos used a hypothetical health care worker as an example: \u201cWhy is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes?\u201d<\/p>\n
Bezos added, \u201cTo me, it\u2019s kind of absurd that we\u2019re doing this. We shouldn\u2019t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington. They should be sending her an apology. It really makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Bezos did not elaborate on his exact calculations, workers in the U.S. are generally required to pay federal income, Social Security, Medicare\u2014and in most states, state income\u2014taxes. Combined, it can stretch into the thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
Because the U.S. tax system is progressive, higher earners generally pay a larger share of their income in federal taxes. In 2023, the bottom half of taxpayers (those making roughly under $54,000) accounted for roughly 12% of total adjusted gross income\u2014but they paid just 3% of all federal income taxes, according to IRS data analyzed by the Tax Foundation. The average household in that group paid about $913 a year in federal income tax. However, when refundable tax credits are factored in, the bottom 40% of taxpayers already pay effectively no federal income tax on average, reported CNBC.<\/p>\n
Bezos, who has maintained a warm relationship with President Donald Trump, said he plans to advocate for the idea with political leaders, arguing that exempting lower earners from federal income taxes would represent only \u201ca small amount of money for the government.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is part of our job as citizens and as business leaders to share our ideas,\u201d Bezos said. \u201cAnd this one would actually help people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bezos\u2014with a net worth of $280 billion\u2014says even if his tax bill was doubled, it wouldn\u2019t help<\/p>\n
Bezos\u2019s concern for affordability may come as a surprise considering his estimated net worth north of $280 billion\u2014the fourth highest of any person in the world. And while he said he personally pays \u201cbillions of dollars\u201d in taxes, his tax history has long drawn scrutiny.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A ProPublica investigation released in 2021 found that Bezos\u2014like several of America\u2019s wealthiest billionaires\u2014used tax strategies that have dramatically reduced his tax burden in certain years. In 2007 and 2011, for example, he paid no federal income tax at all, in part because investment losses outweighed reported income. Analyzing Bezos\u2019s wealth growth alongside his reported income and taxes paid between 2014 and 2018, ProPublica calculated his so-called true tax rate at 0.98%.<\/p>\n
Still, Bezos said he is open to a policy debate over what constitutes a fair tax burden for the wealthy. The top 1% of taxpayers accounted for nearly 21% of total adjusted gross income in 2023, but paid roughly 38% of all federal income taxes that year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can argue about what the fair share is. That\u2019s a policy debate, that\u2019s okay,\u201d Bezos said. \u201cBut the vilification is the thing that\u2019s just the distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even fixing tax loopholes or increasing taxes on the wealthy would not address what Bezos sees as a larger government spending problem. He pointed to inefficiencies in New York City\u2019s public school system as an example.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, your packages would take six weeks to arrive. We\u2019d have to charge you a $100 delivery fee. And then when the package did finally arrive, it\u2019d have the wrong item in it anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could double the taxes I pay, and it\u2019s not gonna help that teacher in Queens. I promise you,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani pushed back on X, writing: \u201cI know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bezos plans to give away \u2018most of his wealth\u2019 in his lifetime\u2014but his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott already has a head start<\/p>\n
While Bezos has not signed the Giving Pledge\u2014the philanthropic initiative created by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Melinda French Gates encouraging billionaires to give away a majority of their fortunes in their lifetime or wills\u2014the Amazon founder said he\u2019s committed to giving away most of his wealth in his lifetime.<\/p>\n
At the same time, he acknowledged the challenge of doing philanthropy effectively, echoing comments from billionaires including Buffett and Elon Musk, who have said giving away massive sums of money well is often harder than it appears.<\/p>\n
But Bezos\u2019s former wife, MacKenzie Scott, already has a sizable head start. Since 2020, she has donated more than $26 billion to organizations focused on DEI, education, and disaster recovery. Meanwhile, Forbes estimates that Bezos and his current wife, Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos, have donated roughly $4.7 billion over their lifetimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bezos argued to CNBC that the long-term societal impact of companies like Amazon and Blue Origin may ultimately prove even more valuable than philanthropy alone. Creating products and services that improve people\u2019s lives, he said, is the kind of impact aspiring entrepreneurs should prioritize.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody out there who\u2019s a potential entrepreneur make sure you focus on that,\u201d Bezos said. \u201cYou will be creating value for society if you\u2019re successful at pleasing your customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
#Jeff #Bezos #bottom #earners #pay #income #taxhe #nurses #making #75K #save #12K #year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For roughly 76 million American households, federal income taxes could eventually disappear\u2014if a proposal by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[245],"tags":[13147,13146,291,7008,1406,402,3825,7465,580,169,7991,7006,866,27,8655,9751,1426,438,86,405,13145,81,6803,85],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}