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

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.

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