Why Jeff Bezos couldn’t stop talking about ‘a nurse in Queens earning $75,000’ this morning

• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said that low-income people in the USA should pay zero taxes.

• Bezos questioned the current income tax model, using the example of the “nurse at Queens.”

• “There is something very powerful about zero,” Bezos said in an interview with CNBC.

Jeff Bezosfounder Amazon and the world’s fourth richest man says low-income earners in the United States should not pay taxes.

“1 percent of taxpayers pay 40 percent of all tax revenue; the bottom half pay only 3 percent. I think it should be zero,” Bezos said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. he said.

“There is something very powerful about zero.”

During the interview, Bezos referred to taxation of low-income workers as “nurse I make $75,000 in Queens.”

speaking from his mouth Blue Origin At the rocket facility in Florida, Bezos said that the United States in 2026 is a “tale of two economies.”

“There’s a group of people in this country who are doing really well, but there’s also a group of people in this country who are struggling,” Bezos said.

He was nodding to the flow K-shaped economy: While many wealthy Americans have benefited from a prolonged rally in the stock market and rising real estate prices in recent years, others have been weighed down by stubborn inflation, heavy interest rates and high interest rates. affordability crisis.

“Some are talking about making the tax system more progressive,” Bezos said. “How about we start by making sure the nurse at Queens doesn’t pay taxes?”

“Why does a nurse in Queens making $75,000 a year pay more than $1,000 a month in taxes? That’s $1,000 a month that could help with rent or groceries or whatever.”

He then cited an Amazon worker in New York who makes about $50,000 a year as an example, calling the idea of ​​taxing them “ridiculous.”

“Why are you taxing them so much? I’m really surprised by this.”

Later when asked about the potential universal basic incomeBezos returned to the nurse analogy.

“Instead of universal basic income, how about we stop taxing a nurse making $75,000?”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual wage for a registered nurse in New York, Newark and Jersey City is roughly $120,000, while vocational nurses who typically have lower levels of education earn $75,000.

Bezos’ personal taxes

Bezos’ comments are the latest in a heated debate proposed billionaire tax In California, it aims to raise funds to offset federal cuts to health care for low-income people.

The one-time 5 percent tax would be levied on their worldwide net worth, which includes assets such as stocks, artwork, businesses and vehicles, but not directly owned real estate.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos’ personal wealth was at $279 billion as of Tuesday’s closing.

The bulk of his net worth consists of a roughly 8% stake in Amazon, one of the world’s largest e-commerce and cloud computing companies with a market value of $2.8 trillion as of Tuesday’s close.

Like many billionaires, Bezos has been accused of not paying his share of taxes and not paying his employees a living wage. Citing leaked IRS data about Bezos’ tax returns, ProPublica said in 2021 that Bezos did not pay any federal income taxes Even though he was already a billionaire in 2007 or 2011.

“If people want me to pay billions more, then let’s discuss that, but don’t pretend that’s going to solve the problem,” Bezos told CNBC. “You can double the taxes I pay, but that won’t help the teacher in Queens at all. I promise you.”

Bezos has repeatedly underlined the value he says he creates for society. in it Last shareholder letter as CEOIt estimates that Amazon created a total of $301 billion in value for its shareholders, employees, third-party sellers and customers in 2020.

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