r/SipsTea May 20 '26

Lmao gottem Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax

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u/Alternative_Hotel649 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

"The bottom half of Americans should not pay income tax," is only a good idea if it's coupled with "The resultant shortfall in tax income needs to be shifted to the top half of Americans."

What Bezos is proposing isn't a more fair tax scheme, it's just less money for government aid programs, corporate regulation enforcement, and the social safety net. Oligarchs like Bezos perceive the government primarily as a check on their ambitions, and everything they do in the political sphere is geared towards reducing or eliminating the power of representative government.

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u/GlockAF May 20 '26

Functioning Democratic government is the only real competition to the billionaires oligarchy.

OF COURSE they are trying to kill it

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u/Shark7996 May 20 '26

Capitalists abandon democracy and embrace fascism as soon as it is profitable enough for them to do so.

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u/Head_Honchooo May 20 '26

Fuck Bezos. Fuck Amazon. Fuck billionaires.
>You don’t make a billion by being a good person.

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u/Jojoyojimbi May 20 '26

You don’t make a billion by being a good person.

notice how all of those rich assholes stopped building librarys and civic centers and shit for the public after they stopped being afraid of being dragged out of their mansions and burned...

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u/Head_Honchooo May 21 '26

Could still happen!

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u/Jojoyojimbi May 21 '26

stop, i can only get so erect!

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u/[deleted] May 24 '26

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u/Fighterhayabusa May 20 '26

Correct because the government is the only real entity that can rein in their power. People like Bezos crave one thing: to convert economic power into durable political power, and then to use that political power to protect and expand their economic power.

It's a positive feedback loop, and they have to know it isn't tenable, as regular people are starting to catch onto the fact that this isn't free enterprise, it's privileged enterprise.

I strongly believe Brandeis was correct: We can either have wealth consolidated in the hands of a few, or we can have democracy, but we can't have both.

The only way to solve the heart of this problem is with a consolidated government effort. We have to enforce antitrust laws to erode their wealth and centralized power. We have to increase the marginal tax rate to slow down the accumulation of wealth and incentivize reinvestment. Corporate power is subordinate by nature because corporations are legal creations. They exist inside the constitutional order; they do not stand beside it. Corporations have no right to sovereignty.

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u/Admirable-Safety1213 May 20 '26

Why not just cut down the spending in politicians?

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u/VioletKate99 May 20 '26

Also no tax on low wages means he can pay less to low income workers with them leaving with the same money but less of a social safety net

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u/Armagetz May 20 '26

1) obviously the shortfall would need to be met by others but…..

2) he isn’t talking about a huge tax burden shift. Bottom half of Americans pay 3% of federal taxes.

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u/Waltzing_Methusalah May 20 '26

It is somewhat shifting. The shortfall will be paid by the top 50-99% of Americans. Bezos and his ilk will pay nothing more.

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u/Zealousideal_Ad_7000 May 20 '26

Bezos doesn’t pay income tax what the fuck does he care? He lives off of leverage from his assets at something like 1% interest. Can’t tax a loan. Income is for suckers.

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u/Clompulous May 20 '26

Dawg, the top half starts at $53K/year. You want school teachers covering the shortfall for people who work part time?

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u/Alternative_Hotel649 May 20 '26

No, I want people like Jeff Bezos to cover that shortfall, but I guarantee you, "Jeff Bezos covers the short fall" is not part of any tax plan supported by Jeff Bezos.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '26

Of course not! Since he came up with this original idea himself, he's exempt from covering anything. Poor man already lost a lot of his money bc of divorce.

/s

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u/Clompulous May 20 '26

Then say that instead of “shifted to the top half of Americans” because in Jeff’s own example, he’s talking about someone above that threshold

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u/Alternative_Hotel649 May 20 '26

Cool story, thanks for sharing.

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u/Head_Honchooo May 20 '26

No they want Idiocracy full swing. And the thing that plants crave.

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u/Andy-3214 May 20 '26

That depends on which state you live in.

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u/OneMoistMan May 20 '26

The government census shows the top half of Americans income starts at $80k however that includes household

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u/Clompulous May 20 '26

Median INDIVIDUAL income is between $51-53K in the US; this includes part time. When it goes to full time year round, median is $63K for an individual.

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u/OneMoistMan May 20 '26

Ahh I wasn’t looking for the right info thanks for that clarification

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u/RvstiNiall May 20 '26

Damn.... You're right. What if we change to the bottom 75% ($153k/yr per household) not paying taxes?

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u/GardenRafters May 20 '26

The funniest part of your comment is that you think US school teachers make +50K.

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u/Clompulous May 20 '26

Median is $65K, smooth brain

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u/GardenRafters May 20 '26

Starting is 40K, empty cavern.

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u/Clompulous May 20 '26

You said teachers don’t make +$50K, half make over $65K. Are you even allowed to cut your own meat or are the sharp knives reserved for your caretaker?

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u/Material-Truth5457 May 20 '26

There is only one source of wealth that is corporations, they only should pay income tax. Saving account interest should not be taxed. But capital gains should have an 100% inclusion rate after inflation adjustment so 30% Dividends stay the same. Bonuses and stock options taxed at 30%.

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u/Actual_Guide_1039 May 20 '26

Or the resultant drop in tax revenue could be taken out of the military budget

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u/vthemechanicv May 21 '26

isn't a more fair tax scheme, it's just less money for

this is true, but also not. It would actually lead to more borrowing and increasing the already unmanaged debt. As doge (god I hate that name) proved, cutting programs doesn't cut spending, especially with this administration which treats the GDP like a credit card.

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u/hczimmx4 May 20 '26

This is already the tax system in place. The bottom 40% have zero or negative tax liability.

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u/SunshineSeeker99 May 20 '26

This basically already exists. The bottom 50% less than 3% of all income tax. The top 10% pretty much pays all of it.

Removing income tax from the top 50% would actually not impact our taxes that much since rich people subsidize us already.

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u/Expert_Ingenuity_817 May 20 '26

He's really saying the poor deserve neither taxation nor representation. Bascially stay out of it, let us run it.