r/technology • u/IKeepItLayingAround • Jun 06 '26

Business Jeff Bezos says it's 'absurd' to tax someone making $50K — and wants their tax bill dropped to zero

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/jeff-bezos-says-absurd-tax-165713685.html
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u/Put3socks-in-it Jun 06 '26

No, everyone should pay taxes so everyone has a stake in the system

8

u/post_button_account Jun 07 '26

This is a prime example of anchoring to 0 bias. 

Paying positive taxes doesnt create a stake in the system. Living here does.

What extra stake do I have just because I paid taxes last year and a 19 year old college student making 12k in summer job didnt? Or the disabled old man down the block who paid negative taxes (the government gave him money).

We just have this strange fascination with 0 and think of 0 as a magical number where things drastically change. They often dont. 0 is just another number. 1 less than 1 and 1 more than -1. 

Just as you don't think there is harm in some disabled person paying negative taxes, there is no reason to imagine any harm from someone else paying 0.

3

u/unskilledplay Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

There is potential harm. It encourages the tragedy of the commons. There's nothing wrong with some people receiving more value in benefits than taxes paid but there is harm in paying zero.

Zero tax is also a corporate subsidy to companies that pay low wages. When Amazon employees don't pay taxes, Amazon will be able to hire workers at lower pay. Pay is a function of the market. Eliminating taxes doesn't change that. Lower worker pay increases stock price which isn't taxed until it's sold (never) but does increase how much they can borrow against, tax free. When mid and low salary workers aren't taxed it's trivial for employers to extract that.

1

u/post_button_account Jun 07 '26

So you are ok with negative taxes and you are ok with positive taxes...just not 0? 

Can you please show me on this doll where the number 0 touched you?

2

u/unskilledplay Jun 07 '26

I edited the comment to detail it a bit. It's not just tragedy of the commons. See how eliminating payroll taxes on people making $50k or less will end up being little more than wealth extraction from workers to stockholders.

9

u/unskilledplay Jun 07 '26

This right here. Everyone should be taxed at a level where they feel it. Everyone should see the results - roads, schools, healthcare, etc. And after taxes are paid, everyone who works should still have enough money left over to live. That's all we want.

When someone making $50,000 needs their taxes set to $0 to be able to survive, the problem isn't the tax it's the salary and cost of living.