Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who by some estimates is the fourth-richest person in the world, has reversed the effort to “tax the rich.” Advocates for eliminating federal income taxes for low-income Americans.
In an interview Wednesday with CNBC, Bezos reflected on his upbringing as the son of a Cuban immigrant and a teenage mother, who “raised themselves” during difficult times.
“I want to make sure that the people who are struggling today have the opportunity to do so too, to get ahead and maybe be the next Steve Jobs,” Bezos said. “Maybe one of their kids will be the next Steve Jobs. I don’t know, but we can give them a better chance by eliminating their tax bill.”
While Bezos also argued that raising taxes on the rich will do little to help struggling households, efforts to tax higher earners continue to gain ground. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani launched a “pied-Ã -terre” tax on luxury second homes of wealthy homeowners who don’t live in the city full-time. And a half-dozen or more states are also considering so-called “wealth taxes.”
Read more: California Billionaires Tax Approaches November Vote: What You Need to Know
‘A nurse in Queens should not pay taxes’
Bezos said the top 1% of earners pay 40% of taxes, while the bottom half pays only 3% of all tax revenue.
“A nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year pays over $12,000 a year in taxes. Does that really make sense? How about we start by making the nurse in Queens pay no taxes? That’s $1,000 a month that could help with rent or groceries or anything. The bottom half of income earners in this country pay only 3% in taxes. It’s only 3%. We can find 3%,” Bezos said.
Data from the Tax Foundation, a tax research think tank, generally agrees with Bezos’ figures. According to the organization, in 2023, the top 1% of taxpayers paid 38.4% of all federal personal income taxes, while the bottom half of taxpayers, earning less than $53,801, paid 3.3% of the total.
“When people are starting out and struggling, stop taxing them. We don’t need it. We live in the richest country in the world,” Bezos said.
However, about 76 million households paid no federal income taxes in 2025. According to the Tax Policy Center, 70% earned less than $75,000 and 45% earned less than $40,000. Many taxpayers used the standard deduction, as well as other exclusions and credits, such as the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, to reduce their tax liability, the Tax Policy Center said.
Read below: Get Ahead of Next Year’s Taxes: 6 Steps to Take Right Now
The ‘Keep Your Payment Law’
There have been bills in Congress raising the concept of reducing or eliminating taxes for households of modest means, although none have advanced significantly.
In March, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced the Keep Your Pay Act, which would make the first $75,000 of income tax-free for households filing jointly.
“This plan can be paid for in full by dismantling our tax system, so that the richest few and the largest corporations that are getting richer by keeping prices high finally start paying their fair share,” Booker said in a statement announcing the proposal.
The bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, where it remains.
Half a million dollars in taxes over a lifetime
While families of modest means would surely applaud an initiative without federal income taxes, their tax bills would not disappear. There are still state and local income taxes, payroll taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, and excise, estate, and gift taxes.
An estimate compiled by Paradigm Life Insurance listed 97 different taxes in the US tax code, including:
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Air transport taxes
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Biodiesel fuel taxes
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Construction Permit Taxes
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Business registration fees
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Cigarette taxes
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Driver’s license fees
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Taxes on fishing licenses
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gasoline taxes
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hotel taxes
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Hunting license taxes
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Inspection fees
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Inventory taxes
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library taxes
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Taxes on alcoholic beverages
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Local school taxes
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Professional Licenses and Fees
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toll taxes
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Self-employment taxes
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Vehicle registration taxes
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Workers’ compensation taxes
And that is not a complete list.
Self, a financial technology company, estimates that the average American will pay more than $520,000 in taxes over a lifetime, a third of all earnings. That includes income taxes, property taxes and taxes on everything from everyday expenses to the cost of driving the most popular vehicle (a Toyota RAV 4, which costs $38,889 in taxes alone, based on an average of four purchased over a lifetime).
“However, due to local real estate markets, wages, and government actions, some states find taxpayers paying even more than the national average,” according to the analysis.
New Jersey residents pay the most lifetime taxes ($987,117), while those who live in West Virginia pay the least ($358,407), according to the Self report.