Jeff Bezos attacks Trump’s ‘crony capitalism’ tax system

Jeff Bezos has previously promised to give away the majority of his wealth - Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg Jeff Bezos has attacked Donald Trump’s “crony capitalism” tax system and called for the bottom half of American earners to pay no tax at all. The Amazon founder said the US had encouraged “way too much corporate welfare, way too much corporate subsidy” and described taxes on people with low incomes “absurd”. He said: “The tax code is 10,000-plus pages long because it has built-in corporate loopholes for various things. This is crony capitalism and of course it should be fixed.” The remarks are a rare rebuke of the US president by Mr Bezos, who also founded the rocket company Blue Origin and the AI lab Prometheus. Mr Bezos previously praised Mr Trump and donated $1m (£740m) to his inauguration fund. Under his ownership, the Washington Post refused to endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential race, despite its pro-Democrat readership. Mr Trump signed off on the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last year, which created a series of tax breaks and subsidies for US businesses and cut taxes on America’s top earners. Mr Trump and his family have been accused by Democrats of enriching themselves through their cryptocurrency business ventures. The White House has repeatedly dismissed claims of any conflict of interest. Donald Trump created a series of tax breaks and subsidies for US businesses in his ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ last year - Leah Millis/Reuters ‘Tale of two economies’ In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Mr Bezos said the US was experiencing a “tale of two economies” and a growing divide between top earners and workers who are struggling. Mr Bezos said the bottom half of American earners pay about 3pc of its taxes, arguing that the figure should be “zero”. He said: “A nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 pays more than $12,000 a year in taxes. Does that really make sense? “It’s kind of absurd that we’re doing this. We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington. They should be sending her an apology.” Mr Bezos, the world’s fourth-richest man with a fortune of $267bn, has previously promised to give away the majority of his wealth. However, he said that even if his taxes were doubled, this was unlikely to benefit low earners. He instead blamed government intervention and red tape for growing inequality. He also singled out New York City under Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayor, for criticism, claiming the city had a “spending problem”. Despite his criticism of wealth inequality, Mr Bezos’s Washington Post in March attacked the prospect of a tax on billionaires in a column titled “The Myth of the Billionaire Wealth Tax”. In 2023, Mr Bezos moved from Seattle, in Washington State, to Florida, potentially saving hundreds of millions of dollars in capital gains taxes. The Amazon tycoon did reserve some praise for Mr Trump. Asked about the turbulence of Mr Trump’s tariffs and his attack on Iran, Mr Bezos insisted the US president was a “more mature, more disciplined version of himself” compared with his first term.