Breaking
World leaders gather for emergency summit on climate crisis • Tech giants announce major breakthrough in fusion energy • Stocks reach all-time high as global trade recovers • Global News 24 launches premium news experience • Stay updated with real-time headlines •
BACK TO NEWS
Businessabout 2 hours ago

Jeff Bezos says bottom half of earners should pay zero in income taxes

CNBC
CNBC

Verified Publisher

Jeff Bezos says bottom half of earners should pay zero in income taxes

Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos on Wednesday called for zero federal income taxes on the bottom half of earners.

Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos on Wednesday called for zero federal income taxes on the bottom half of earners.

The top 1% of taxpayers pay 40% of all the tax revenue, and the bottom half pay 3%, Bezos told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin.

"I don't think it should be 3%," Bezos said. "I think it should be zero." Bezos' comments come as a number of Democratic states explore higher taxes on the wealthy.

The average income tax rate in 2023 was 14.1%, according to a Tax Foundation analysis of the latest IRS data. The top 1% of taxpayers paid a 26.3% average rate, seven times higher than the 3.7% average rate paid by the bottom half of taxpayers.

Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.

Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.

© 2026 Versant Media, LLC.

Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.

Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Read original story at CNBC

Continue reading this article on the publisher's website.

Visit Website

More from CNBC