Jeff Bezos says bottom half of earners should pay zero in income taxes
Amazon Chief executive Jeff Bezos on Wednesday called for zeroing out federal income taxes on the bottom half of earners.
The top 1 percent of taxpayers pay 40 percent of all tax revenue, while the bottom 3 percent pay 3 percent, Bezos told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on “Squawk Box.”
“I don’t think it should be 3 percent,” Bezos said. “I think it should be zero.”
Bezos said the income tax paid by low-income earners is “a small amount of money for the government” and gave the hypothetical example of a healthcare worker making $75,000 a year.
“We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington,” he said. “They should send him an apology. It really doesn’t make any sense.”
Bezos’ comments come as some Democratic states plan to impose higher taxes on the wealthy.
According to the Tax Foundation, the average income tax rate in 2023 will be 14.1% analysis Latest IRS data. The top 1% of taxpayers paid an average rate of 26.3%; that rate is seven times higher than the 3.7% average rate paid by the bottom half of taxpayers.
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