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Elizabeth Warren calls out Jeff Bezos in her latest wealth tax campaign: 'I'm looking at you'

Jul 28, 2021, 22:54 IST
Business Insider
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Mandel Ngan/Pool/Getty Images, Elif Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
  • In a CNBC interview on wealth taxes, Sen. Elizabeth Warren again called out Jeff Bezos.
  • Warren has repeatedly criticized Bezos over how much he pays in taxes, especially following his space adventure.
  • Under Warren's proposed measure, Bezos would have paid $5.7 billion in taxes in 2020.
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In an interview with CNBC's Squawk Box, Sen. Elizabeth Warren again took aim at now-earthbound billionaire Jeff Bezos in her latest push for a wealth tax.

When it comes to taxing the assets of America's wealthiest, Warren said, "it shouldn't make a difference whether you have real estate, or whether you have cash, or whether you have a bazillion shares of Amazon."

"Yes, Jeff Bezos, I'm looking at you," she said.

Warren has repeatedly taken aim at billionaire Bezos over how much he pays in taxes. ProPublica recently revealed that Bezos reportedly did not pay income taxes for two years, and that he received a $4,000 tax credit in 2011 meant for families earning under $100,000.

Earlier this week, Warren tweeted that "the richest guy on Earth can launch himself into space while over half the country lives paycheck to paycheck, nearly 43 million are saddled with student debt, and child care costs force millions out of work. He can afford to pitch in so everyone else gets a chance."

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She also criticized his comments thanking every Amazon employee and customer for funding his foray, where Bezos said "you guys paid for all of this."

"Jeff Bezos forgot to thank all the hardworking Americans who actually paid taxes to keep this country running while he and Amazon paid nothing," Warren tweeted.

Amazon did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Warren has repeatedly called for a wealth tax

Warren campaigned on a wealth tax in her failed 2020 presidential run, and continues to push for legislation that targets America's highest earners.

Under her most recent proposal, the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, households with a net worth of $50 million or more would see at least a 2% tax on their assets. Those with over $1 billion would have a 3% tax - what Warren called a "tiny little tax" on CNBC.

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"But notice, if we put that tiny little tax in place, that would be enough to pay for universal childcare, enough to pay for our kids to be able to go to college, enough for us to pay for all of those roads and bridges and bring them into the 21st century," Warren said.

Wealth taxes, and taxes on high-earners, have recently claimed the spotlight amidst a push to fund President Joe Biden's infrastructure package. While Biden did not propose an outright wealth tax, some of his measures would target America's highest earners. He also proposed increasing IRS funding, which could raise an additional $700 billion over 10 years. Those proposals came after a study from IRS researchers and academics found the top 1% of Americans fail to report about a quarter of their income to the IRS.

Per an analysis from Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies Project on Inequality found that, Bezos would have ponied up $5.7 billion in taxes in 2020 under Warren's wealth tax.

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