Bezos says bottom half of U.S. earners should pay no federal income tax

MoneyWatch Jeff Bezos says bottom half of U.S. earners should pay no federal income tax .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-moneywatch.jpg'); } By Megan Cerullo Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting. Read Full Bio Megan Cerullo May 20, 2026 / 1:23 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told CNBC on Wednesday that the bottom half of U.S. earners should pay no federal income tax, arguing that eliminating those taxes could ease financial strain and encourage entrepreneurship.The bottom half of U.S. taxpayers currently pays about 3% of federal income taxes, a share Bezos said should fall to "zero." Bezos, who stepped back as Amazon's CEO in 2021, is the world's fourth-richest person, with a fortune valued at $279 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.The top 1% of households pay about 40% of federal income taxes, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy institute. Bezos' comments come amid renewed pushes from some Democratic state and federal lawmakers to institute new wealth taxes aimed at millionaires and billionaires. At the same time, the Republicans' "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill included tax breaks that critics say predominantly help the wealthiest households. The government can give "people who are struggling today" a better chance at entrepreneurial success "by eliminating their tax bill," Bezos said."Maybe they're going to be the next Steve Jobs," Bezos said, referring to the late cofounder of Apple.Zero taxes, not lower taxesBezos made it clear that he's not calling for a reduction in income tax for lower-income families.  "I don't want to reduce it, I want to eliminate it," he told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorki...