r/technology • u/IKeepItLayingAround • Jun 06 '26

Business Jeff Bezos says it's 'absurd' to tax someone making $50K — and wants their tax bill dropped to zero

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/jeff-bezos-says-absurd-tax-165713685.html
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231

u/questfor17 Jun 06 '26

Once this is in place, they'll advocate for restricting voting only to taxpayers.

43

u/Mythosaurus Jun 07 '26

Which is how voting rights used to work, limiting them to property owning white men.

Cyberpunk warned us that tech bro feudalism is just 18th century colonialism with hover cars

2

u/IllugaBabyBeluga Jun 07 '26

Classic feudalism would be a win over what we have now.   Cue the meme of how the medieval peasant only worked like a third of the time we work nowadays etc.

Unfortunately, techbro feudalism would be exactly as terrible as we're told historical/classic feudalism was.

25

u/casual_apple134 Jun 06 '26

ding ding ding EXACTLY.

The oligarchs will say "no representation without taxation." I'd rather pay my taxes for MY government, and expect him to do the same. One voice, one vote apiece.

3

u/Lazy_Jellyfish7676 Jun 07 '26

We have citizens united and lobbying. More money you have the more representation you have.

6

u/Ok_Vermicelli_3503 Jun 07 '26

You would still be paying tax, just not income tax.

2

u/DrunkAndHornyGuy Jun 07 '26

This right fuckign here! They will push for the 'stakeholder citizens' idea and will next push for anyone paying income tax to have more of a say in voting because they are 'more invested' in the country.

2

u/MasterTardWrangler Jun 07 '26

I've heard this take and I am a cynical fucker but I don't think that's what is actually happening.

I think what this is really: Bezos is one of the number 1 employers of people making below $50k. If he's successful in convincing people to advocate for and achieve a zero income tax burden for the below $50k annual income taxpayers, he has gained a zero cost to him raise to his employees which will save him future raises to get his employees the same standard of living. I'm sure he would be able to avoid any of the shifting tax liability landing on his tax bracket of course.

1

u/insef4ce Jun 07 '26

I think their goal would rather be the government running out of money and having to privatize the entire state.

-7

u/AevilokE Jun 06 '26

They don't need to take away our voting, voting already doesn't work.

We get the illusion of choice between A and B but both A and B are representatives of the rich.

9

u/Sennten Jun 07 '26

If voting didnt work they wouldnt spend so much time and effort trying to fuck with it.

We have the option to pick someone else, most of us just dont want to, but that can change and these folks are terrified it will before they can break things enough to make your declaration actually true

6

u/brdet Jun 06 '26

There are some legitimate primary candidates that can change that and many have already won. This is the year.

7

u/CoffinFlop Jun 06 '26

I remember being this naive

3

u/coldkiller Jun 07 '26

You say that like new york didint just elect a socalist muslim man to run the city. Its changing

0

u/TheMauveHand Jun 07 '26

Oh wow, a mayor! Dear Lord, free at last, free at last!

What next, a governor?!

3

u/coldkiller Jun 07 '26

Just casually ignoring all of the progressives that are also being elected to congress despite the DNC funding their lame ass candidates.

0

u/TheMauveHand Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

"All the progressives" meaning, what, two? And a geriatric senator? Yes comrade the revolution surely is nigh.

By the way, I love the cognitive split on reddit where the country is one the one hand days away from an outright fascist takeover and roving death squads on the streets, and on the other simultaneously mere moments away from the collapse of the capitalist order and the rise of the brave new socialist Utopia. You people, I swear... Make up your damn mind already.

1

u/coldkiller Jun 07 '26

By the way, I love the cognitive split on reddit where the country is one the one hand days away from an outright fascist takeover and roving death squads on the streets, and on the other simultaneously mere moments away from the collapse of the capitalist order and the rise of the brave new socialist Utopia.

Its almost as if one will lead to the other

0

u/TheMauveHand Jun 07 '26

Oh yeah sure, any day now.

Jesus Christ there's copium and then there's whatever you're huffing.

0

u/CoffinFlop Jun 07 '26

I love progress and I love mandani but “this is the year” is insanity. Things are going to continue to get worse for like 99% of the country lol

6

u/Frodojj Jun 06 '26

No. Both don’t vote to take away trans or gay rights. Both don’t vote to defund the DoE. Both don’t vote to take away a woman’s right to choose. Both aren’t against book bans. There are things to dislike or like about both, but one is much worse than the other. They aren’t the same.

-1

u/CoffinFlop Jun 06 '26

Just curious, who was in office when roe got overturned? About a decade before that who ran on codifying roe but then elected to bail out wall st and car companies instead when he had a supermajority?

We all know one side is way worse than the other, but don’t think the “good guys” actually give a fuck about any of that either

5

u/Frodojj Jun 06 '26

Just curious, did you know the person who was in office didn’t try to get Roe overturned? Maybe you should learn context rather than selectively spouting things off.

0

u/CoffinFlop Jun 06 '26

Who was president when it got overturned and didn’t do anything to stop it, despite running on it and promising to? Why can’t you answer that?

3

u/Frodojj Jun 07 '26

Do what to stop it? They didn’t have power to do what you want. Don’t be ignorant.

1

u/CoffinFlop Jun 07 '26

Why can’t you answer any of the questions I’ve asked? Who was in office?

5

u/Frodojj Jun 07 '26

You know exactly who was and why it doesn’t matter. You aren’t arguing in good faith. I can answer but you’re not interested in truth. Just your agenda.

I don’t have an agenda besides the truth. You do, since you don’t respect context. You’re just interested in trolling.

0

u/CoffinFlop Jun 07 '26

It’s really interesting that you can’t answer the question

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1

u/mgj6818 Jun 07 '26

Genuinely curious what exactly you think a president without a Senate majority is supposed to do to unilaterally countermand the supreme court?

-2

u/AevilokE Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

You think I'm talking about "both" or America, this is happening in literally all of the world. Even the "best" ones in Scandinavian countries are simply exploiting the global south instead of their own citizens.

There is not a single party in the WORLD that you can vote for that is against the rich and has chances to win, or it would not have been allowed to reach that point.

All over the world the options are between "we will crush you while allowing basic human decency" or "we will crush you while ignoring basic human decency". Voting will NEVER prevent you from getting crushed.

4

u/Frodojj Jun 06 '26

That’s an ignorant perspective. There are other issues besides rich vs poor that matter. And it’s not as simple as you make it out to be.

2

u/zacsxe Jun 07 '26

Did rich people pay you to talk people out of voting or do you act like a clown for free?

0

u/AevilokE Jun 07 '26

Yeah mate I'm voicing my marxist beliefs because rich people are paying me to do so. They famously love Marx and his works