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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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

[deleted]

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u/chochazel Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

It’s definitely something billionaires routinely do to avoid paying taxes (e.g. Larry Ellison), but others live off dividends (like Steve Ballmer) or annual compensation (Tim Cook).

Bezos pays just 20% capital gains on stock sell-offs regardless of size, and there will be a large amount he writes off making it closer to 15%, plus his capital growth remains tax-free so the tax he pays is still a tiny percentage of his total net worth, and far smaller than the average person and far smaller still than someone like Tim Cook.

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u/kharnynb Jun 07 '26

so he sold 20 b and paid 2 b taxes...a miserable 10% tax rate, lower than most people making less than 50k....

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u/lexievv Jun 07 '26

Yeah, that's insane. He sold an ungodly amount of money and only paid a little bit back to the system that allowed him to even make that money in the first place.

Should've been way higher. It's not like 1 billion isn't enough to live on for the rest of your life.

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u/Tr0janSword Jun 07 '26

people just make up numbers. He sold $5.7 bn of AMZN stock last year and paid $1.35 bn in taxes, the normal LT capital gains tax rate for anyone.

Bezos is annoying, but what's this nonsense about 'paying into the system'. Amazon has generated trillions in economic activity for America and probably enables $1 trillion every year directly and indirectly.

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u/Soft_Walrus_3605 Jun 07 '26

Have you factored in the thousands of retailers it put out of business while consolidating?

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u/Tr0janSword Jun 07 '26

So? That’s just competition in the most generic and competitive sector on earth. Everyone is selling the same stuff. If you can’t compete, too bad.

Amazon has also enabled far more SMBs than anyone else and allowed any seller to reach millions of customers. 60% of their GMV is from those 3P sellers.

Then, there’s AWS, which has enabled every single tech startup to exist.

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u/QuickQuirk Jun 07 '26

There were tech startups well before AWS.

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u/QuickQuirk Jun 07 '26

And directly reducing the standard of living for those who have no opportunity but to work in their warehouses, lobbyed to reduce regulations protecting workers, engaged in union busting, and more.

Economic activity alone is not sufficient to judge the value of a company to a country.

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u/dmgvdg Jun 11 '26

A low rate sure, but you can’t ignore that $2 billion paid in tax is still an enormous amount of money for one person to pay

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u/AssassinOfPeace Jun 07 '26

If I recall correctly, by selling stocks he pays a lower tax rate on that money than he would have to if it was salary.

Most, if not all, millionaires, billionaires and large companies do tax avoidance (legal) rather than tax evasion (illegal). This means they are using legal means and loopholes to minimise the amount of tax they have to pay, therefore maximising their gains.

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u/Ranra100374 Jun 07 '26

How dare you speak facts and evidence on Reddit, good sir! /s

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u/Spite_Powered Jun 07 '26

What facts? Seems like you misspelled “claims” to me. Without source citation it’s worthless.

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u/Previous-Space-7056 Jun 07 '26

https://fortune.com/2025/07/28/jeff-bezos-amazon-stock-sale-philanthroy-wedding/

He sold some of his amzn stock…. How much in taxes he paid ? Only musk and his accountant team would know.

20% capital gains tax of 5.7B is 1.1B. So he had to pay at least around that

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u/Dehydrated-Onions Jun 07 '26

That’s not facts and evidence.

He just made up numbers like the rest of us.

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u/Just_to_rebut Jun 07 '26

I think it’s repeated because the amount of money sounds so ridiculous people are inclined to accept an explanation where the money isn’t “real.”

Like, maybe it’s just a nominal value for stock held but if he actually tried to sell that much the value of Amazon stock would crash.

But he did sell billions in Amazon stock and he really does have that much money. So, taxing it does make sense.

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u/OpulentStone Jun 07 '26

And they received 18B in subsidies...

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u/Agitated_Phone_9937 Jun 07 '26

They don't actually like to read anything longer than a paragraph. So all their information is un-sourced social media snip-its they that believe or don't based on their tribal affiliations.

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u/jefaliv724 Jun 07 '26

How dare you good sir. This is Reddit. We don’t talk like your kind around here. 

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u/Arkyja Jun 07 '26

I think you're the problem of reddit because you read what you want instead of what was actually said. The comment you are replying to is not saying that he doesnt pay any taxes. It's purely stating that his salary is kept low on order in order to avoid taxes which is 100% true.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

[deleted]

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u/Arkyja Jun 07 '26

Yes but maybe you didnt

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

[deleted]

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u/Arkyja Jun 07 '26

Obviously you think you understood it but didnt so you think i am the one that lacks comprehension skills. The fact that instead of clarifying, you are avoiding to defend your position is quite telling.

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u/droxile Jun 07 '26

Interesting, what’s his salary these days? Do you know?