Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos on Wednesday called for eliminating federal income tax for the lowest-earning half of Americans, a proposal that received support from fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk.
During a television interview, Bezos noted that the top 1% of U.S. taxpayers pay about 40% of the nation’s income taxes, while the bottom 50% contribute only 3%.
“I don’t think it should be 3%—I think it should be zero,” Bezos said.
According to the latest IRS statistics cited by the Tax Foundation, the adjusted gross income for the bottom 50% of taxpayers in 2023 was around $54,000. In contrast, households in the top 1% earned at least $676,000 that year.
Bezos argued that the income tax paid by low earners is “a trivial amount for the government” and gave a hypothetical example of a healthcare worker earning $75,000 a year.
“We shouldn’t be asking that nurse in Queens to send money to Washington,” he stated. “They should be apologizing to her. It just makes no sense.”
He said he would “advocate” for such a change but did not specify how lawmakers should implement it.
Forbes ranks Bezos as the world’s fourth-richest person, with an estimated net worth of $269 billion.
In the interview, Bezos also remarked, “If I do my job well, my for-profit company will deliver far more value to society and civilization than I ever could through philanthropic giving.”
A user on X shared and commented on a clip of Bezos’s interview, writing, “It’s great that Jeff Bezos is thinking this way, because too many people who aren’t making money think sending it to the government will solve many of their problems. They believe these government programs are a panacea, but clearly they are not. Look at the federal or state level and you’ll see many government programs are pure waste.”
Bezos replied, “Thank you. What’s important is to exempt the bottom half from all tax. The most straightforward way to let people keep more of their income is not to take it in the first place. The bottom half pays only 3% of total taxes, but that amount is significant to them—it should be eliminated entirely.”
Musk responded to the post with a simple: “Agree.”
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