Jeff Bezos: The bottom half workers pay 3% of all taxes – it should be zero

[0:00] Good morning. We are here on the factory floor this morning of Blue Origin and we are here [0:05] with Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, also of course the founder of Amazon. It is great to [0:11] see you. This is remarkable, by the way, just the scale of it. We've been talking about it all [0:17] morning. But of all the people that we could talk to about everything that's going on in the country [0:22] right now in the economy, AI, jobs, space, we want to talk to you. And there is so much to talk about. [0:30] We're going to touch on that policy, politics, and so much more. But one of the topics that I [0:35] thought we should talk about and maybe even start with is these days it feels almost impossible to [0:42] pick up a newspaper without reading a headline about wealth in America, about the billionaire [0:48] class, about wealth inequality and policy and everything else. And it's taken a uniquely [0:56] critical turn, I think. And I'm so curious, before we've been getting to everything else, [1:01] what you think about that right now? Well, first of all, Adriel, I'm glad you're asking the question. [1:09] I think it's a really important topic and I think it's an important one to discuss because I see the [1:13] same thing you do. You know, you see it in a bunch of headlines, you see it in a bunch of places. [1:17] And I've been thinking, I have been thinking about, like, what is, what is driving this? [1:23] Because it does seem different from 10 years ago. And, and, and I think, I think what's going on [1:31] is that it's kind of a tale of two economies. So you have a bunch of people in this country [1:36] who are doing really well, but you also have a bunch of people in this country who are struggling, [1:41] struggling to pay rent, groceries. And so what's, you know, what's happening here [1:48] is politicians are using the kind of age old technique. So there's this tale of two economies [1:55] and they're using this age old technique of, you know, picking a villain and pointing fingers. [2:02] But the problem is that doesn't solve anything. And so, like, if you want to help the, the group [2:09] of people who are struggling, you have to figure out real root causes and solutions. And that takes [2:17] skill. You know, it's like the way we, if we have a problem at Amazon, you know, the way we would fix [2:22] it is we would go in and we'd do the five whys and we'd try to get to a root cause. We'd try to find a [2:26] root fix. And then when we fix it at the root, you're fixing it forever. It's a real solution. [2:33] And what we don't do, because it doesn't work, is just point fingers and blame people. It might feel [2:38] good for 10 seconds, but it doesn't accomplish anything. And so what could you really do? [2:43] So, like, you know, I started. [2:45] That's what I was going to ask. Do you have a plan? [2:47] Well, I have some ideas. I have some places to start. So, you know, if, yeah, you know, [2:53] I started thinking about this and doing some research. A nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year [3:01] pays 12, more than $12,000 a year in taxes. Does that really make sense? So people talk about, [3:11] you know, making the tax system more progressive. How about we start by having the nurse in Queens [3:17] not pay taxes? Why is somebody at all? Why is some, why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year [3:25] paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes? That's $1,000 a month that could help with rent or groceries [3:33] or anything. And so, and by the way, do you know what that all adds up to? The bottom half of [3:40] income earners in this country pay only 3% of the taxes. It's only 3%. We can find 3%. So we don't have, [3:50] it's a small amount of money for the government, you know, that. And really, it's, and the more I [3:56] thought about it, to me, it's kind of absurd that we're doing this. You know, we shouldn't be asking [4:02] this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington. They should be sending her an apology. It really [4:09] makes no sense. Okay. But then on the other end, the question is, should you be paying higher taxes [4:16] to pay for the 3% component part of this that you think is going to need to be paid for, if not more [4:24] than that, given the debts we have? It's certainly a perfectly valid policy debate to say, do we want [4:32] an even more progressive tax system? So, you know, the kind of the line that gets quoted all the time [4:39] is, you know, the wealthy should pay their fair share. And we can argue about what the fair share [4:45] is. That's a policy debate. That's okay. But the vilification is the thing that's just the [4:51] distraction. And by the way, if you really are being honest about it, we don't have a revenue [4:58] problem in this country. We already have the most progressive tax system in the world. The top 1% [5:05] of taxpayers pay 40% of all the tax revenue. The bottom half pay only 3%. We have already, and I [5:12] think it should be zero. I don't think it should be 3%. I think it should be zero. So we'd be making [5:17] more progressive that way. We actually have a spending problem. And that's a skills issue. [5:24] I mean, let me give you an example. The New York City school system. Right. They spend $44,000 [5:31] per student. $44,000. That's 30% more per student than other big cities like Chicago, LA, and Boston. [5:42] And it's three times more than Miami and Houston. And by the way, New York City doesn't get better [5:49] outcomes. So what this, listen, let me just say, if we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their [5:58] school system, your packages would take six weeks to arrive. We'd have to charge you $100 delivery fee. [6:05] And then when the package did finally arrive, it'd have the wrong item in it anyway. [6:09] Right. We can't, that's a skills issue, Andrew. It's not about, it's just competence.