A mobile billboard calls for higher taxes for billionaire Jeff Bezos on Capitol Hill. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
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As the richest man in the world prepares for a rocket into space, more than 160,000 Americans have signed a petition demanding « Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth ».
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I find it difficult to get excited one way or another for the otherworldly adventures of the billionaire class.
I just want Mr. Bezos to pay his taxes on the planet he currently lives on.
A ProPublica report released last month revealed, « In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then multibillionaire and now the richest man in the world, didn’t pay a penny in federal income taxes. »
It wasn’t like Bezos was in the middle of the The 2000s would have been difficult times. According to Forbes magazine, his personal net worth rose by $ 3.8 billion in 2007. But Bezos somehow avoided taking a blow from the IRS.
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« How is it that a person who enjoys such a wealth explosion ends up paying no income tax? » asked ProPublica. Well, forensic investigators stated, “That year, Bezos, who was filing his taxes with his then-wife MacKenzie Scott, reported a paltry income (for him) of $ 46 million, mostly from interest and dividend payments on outside investments. He was able to offset every cent he earned with losses from ancillary investments and various deductions, such as interest expenses on debts and the vague collective category ‘other expenses’. »
“In 2011, a year when his wealth was roughly constant at $ 18 billion, Bezos filed a tax return reporting that he had lost money – his income that year was increased by investment losses as balanced. Also because he earned so little under the tax law that he even claimed and received a tax credit of $ 4,000 for his children, « reported ProPublica, adding: » His tax avoidance is even more noticeable when you look at the years 2006 to 2018, a period for which ProPublica has complete data. Bezos’ net worth rose $ 127 billion, according to Forbes, but reported a total income of $ 6.5 billion. The $ 1.4 billion he paid in personal federal taxes is a massive number – but it equates to a true 1.1 percent tax rate on the increase in his wealth. «
That was the year and a half ago Pandemic win where the very rich have become much richer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
« In the past 16 months since the pandemic was formally locked, the total wealth of 713 billionaires has grown by $ 1.8 trillion, an increase of nearly 60 percent. The total wealth of US billionaires rose from $ 2.9 trillion on March 18, 2020 to $ 4.7 trillion on July 9, 2021, ”said Chuck Collins, who runs the Institute’s Inequality and Welfare Program for Policy Studies.
« Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, nearly a ‘double centi billionaire’ with a net worth of nearly $ 197 billion, is up 74 percent in the past 13 months, » noted Collins. « If he were still married to his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, they’d be worth another $ 60 billion together – giving the couple a net worth of a quarter of a trillion dollars. »
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After the Pentagon terminated a cloud computing contract with Microsoft in early July – paving the way for Amazon, the $ 10 billion -Dollar Project Grab – Amazon’s stock rose 4.7 percent in a single day. Bezos’ net worth rose $ 8.4 billion, according to Bloomberg.
« In one day, Jeff Bezos’ worth increased by $ 8.4 billion. His average Amazon warehouse worker was making $ 120 on the same day, ”noted MP Ro Khanna (D-California). « What a shame to become the richest person ever and not empower those who work for you? »
And what a shame, MP Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) remarked that over the past few years this Amazon warehouse worker has paid more taxes than Bezos for more than a few days.
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The congressman is prepared for something. When so-called « deficit hawks » ask whether the United States can afford to pay for the modest welfare improvements included in the $ 3.5 trillion budget proposal by President Biden and the chairman of the Senate Budgets Committee, Bernie Sanders, outlined last week, the answer is that there is of course enough money to expand Medicare to include vision, dental and hearing care. And to guarantee family and sick leave. And expanding home care and community services for the elderly and people with disabilities. And reduce the cost of prescription drugs. The same applies to proposals to expand the child tax deduction and to provide universal Pre-K programs for 3- and 4-year-old children. And to make higher education either free or more affordable for millions of students. And to increase food aid and funding for affordable housing. And to achieve the climate goals of 80 percent clean electricity and percent macroeconomic CO2 emissions by 2030.
The money is readily available, as Sanders said when he presented the budget, which not only outlines ambitious spending proposals but also outlines the progressive tax policies that will be paid for. « For a long time the American people have seen the rich get richer and the government developed policies that in some cases will allow them not to pay nickel in federal income taxes, » the senator said. “You’ve seen companies make huge profits – in some cases they don’t pay a penny in taxes. And what this legislation says, among many other things, is that those days are over. »
Of course, deficit hawks will whine. But former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, a noted economist, says, “Don’t listen to Republican claims that we can’t afford to get this reconciliation package through. Jeff Bezos added $ 8 billion to his net worth in a single day last week. If we actually tax the billionaires, we can give the American people what they need and what they deserve. »
But it will allow the rest of us to make this corner of planet earth a little more habitable.
John NicholsJohn Nichols is The Nation’s National Affairs Correspondent and author of the new book The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace’s Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics (verso). He is also the author of Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America by Nation Books and co-author of People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy.
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