Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos is drawing fresh attention after saying the bottom half of U.S. earners should pay no federal income tax at all.
Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Bezos argued that lower-earning Americans contribute such a small share of federal income tax revenue that the government should stop collecting it from them entirely. “I don’t think it should be 3%,” Bezos said, referring to the share paid by the bottom half of taxpayers. “I think it should be zero.”
Bezos, whose net worth is estimated at roughly $269 billion by Forbes, pointed to workers facing rising costs as the reason for the change. He offered the example of a healthcare worker earning $75,000 a year. “We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington,” he said. “They should be sending her an apology. It really makes no sense.”
The comments fall in the middle of a broader tax debate over who pays, who benefits, and whether the current system actually reflects the pressure on working households. According to Tax Foundation data cited by CNBC, the bottom half of taxpayers had adjusted gross income of nearly $54,000 in 2023 and paid an average of $913 in federal income taxes.
The top 1%, meanwhile, earned at least $676,000 and paid about 38% to 40% of all federal income tax revenue.
Bezos’ remarks also come amid Amazon’s continued role in the broader conversation about corporate power, labor, and wealth. Earlier this month, Amazon Labor Union co-founder Chris Smalls was arrested outside the Met Gala after protesting near the event, which Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos helped sponsor.
The protest tapped into ongoing criticism of billionaire influence and Amazon’s labor practices, even as the union later said Smalls’ action was not connected to its official organizing work.
Amazon’s own tax picture is complicated. The company reported a global tax contribution of $93.08 billion in 2023, including taxes paid directly and taxes collected on behalf of governments.
But its income tax obligations vary year to year because of capital investments, research and development credits, stock-based compensation, and other legal tax strategies. CNBC reported that Amazon paid $2.75 billion in U.S. cash income taxes, while its global income tax provisions have fluctuated sharply in recent years.
Bezos did not lay out a policy mechanism to eliminate income taxes for the bottom half of earners, but similar ideas are already circulating in Washington. Sen. Cory Booker has proposed making the first $75,000 of income tax-free for married couples, with scaled relief for other filers.
For Bezos, the argument is simpler: in what he called “a tale of two economies,” workers under the most financial pressure should keep more of what they earn.
