Jeff Bezos has called for eliminating federal income taxes entirely for the bottom half of U.S. Earners.
The Amazon founder, 61, made the proposal during a CNBC interview at his Blue Origin facility in Florida on Wednesday. Bezos, whose net worth Forbes places at roughly $266 billion, said the change would affect approximately 76 million American households that currently contribute just 3% of total federal income tax revenue.
“I want to make sure that the people who are struggling today have a chance to do that too, to bring themselves up and maybe they’re going to be the next Steve Jobs,” Bezos said in the interview. “Maybe one of their kids will be the next Steve Jobs.”
Bezos used a specific example to illustrate his point. “Why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes?” He asked. “That’s $1,000 that could help with rent, or groceries, or anything … To me, it’s kind of absurd that we’re doing this. We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington. They should be sending her an apology. It really makes no sense.”
The billionaire emphasized that he was not proposing a reduction but a complete elimination. “I don’t want to reduce it, I want to eliminate it,” he told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. “I think there’s something very powerful about zero. Zero is a better number than $1.”
Bezos drew a parallel to his business experience. “There was something very powerful about zero,” he said, referencing Amazon’s “free shipping” model.
Tax Foundation data for 2023 shows the bottom half of taxpayers—those earning less than roughly $53,801 in adjusted gross income—paid an average of about $913 in federal income tax at an average rate of 3.7%. The top 1% of earners paid an average rate of 26.3% and contributed roughly 38% to 40% of all federal income taxes collected.
Bezos also spoke about his parents during the interview, noting his father was a Cuban immigrant and his mother was 17 when she gave birth to him. He said both parents “brought themselves up” and that he wanted to ensure others had similar opportunities.
The proposal puts Bezos in unusual alignment with some Democratic lawmakers. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has separately introduced the Keep Your Pay Act, which would eliminate taxes on the first $75,000 of household income. Earlier this year, Democrats unveiled a proposal to eliminate federal income taxes for workers earning up to $46,000 individually or $92,000 as married couples, funded by a surcharge on millionaires.
However, the idea also drew pushback. New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani responded on social media that teachers in Queens would take issue with Bezos’s remarks. Billionaire Tom Steyer also objected to the proposal.
Bezos said he planned to advocate directly for the idea with political leaders, including President Donald Trump. “I’m certainly going to advocate for this,” he said. Bezos, who has worked with every president since Bill Clinton, described it as part of his job as a business leader to “share our ideas.”
The relationship between Bezos and Trump has warmed in recent years after a frosty start. Trump was invited to Bezos’s wedding to Lauren Sanchez in Venice, Italy, last year, though White House officials confirmed he declined due to scheduling conflicts. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner did attend the ceremony.
In the viral moment that prompted widespread discussion, Bezos’s tax comments circulated rapidly across social media platforms, with clips of his CNBC appearance drawing millions of views. The proposal arrived amid renewed debate over wealth taxation, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act of 2026, which would impose a 2% annual tax on households worth more than $50 million and an additional 1% on billionaires.
Bezos’s own tax history has drawn scrutiny in the past. A 2021 ProPublica investigation found that Bezos paid no federal income tax in 2007 and 2011, and that his wealth increased $127 billion from 2006 to 2018 while he reported $6.5 billion in income, resulting in an effective tax rate of about 1% on his gains. This legal outcome stems from the U.S. System of taxing realized capital gains rather than unrealized wealth.
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 after leaving a Wall Street job and stepped back as CEO in 2021, remaining executive chairman.
Bezos is scheduled to continue his advocacy for the tax proposal in Washington.