In an interview with CNBC, the US business-news network, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos accused politicians of using the wealthy as a target to distract the public from the country’s structural problems, arguing that even a sharp increase in taxes on billionaires would not concretely improve the lives of America’s middle class.
His remarks drew an immediate response from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has spent months building his political agenda around the idea of «Tax the rich».
Bezos: «Taxing the rich doesn’t solve the problem»
On CNBC’s italicSquawk Boxitalic, Bezos said: «I pay billions of dollars in taxes. If people want me to pay billions more, let’s talk about it. But let’s not pretend that this will solve the problem. You could double the taxes I pay, and it still wouldn’t help that teacher in Queens.»
Mamdani replied on social media that he knows «a few teachers in Queens who would strongly disagree».
According to the Amazon founder, the United States is developing a «tale of two economies»: on one side, a segment of the population that keeps prospering; on the other, millions of people facing economic hardship. In this context, he argued, politicians are merely picking a «villain» to point the finger at, without actually solving the problem.
While income inequality is a legitimate concern, Bezos criticized proposals to make the tax system more progressive, asking — provocatively — why the focus shouldn’t instead be on making sure «the nurse in Queens doesn’t pay taxes». He also said that the top 1% of earners pay roughly 40% of total tax revenue, while the poorer half pays 3%. He added: «I don’t think it should be 3%. I think it should be zero.»
It is not entirely clear which taxes he was referring to, since, according to the Tax Policy Center, about 40% of US households owed no federal income tax for the 2024 tax year. According to the Tax Foundation, in 2023 the bottom 50% of American taxpayers had an average annual income of about $53,800. By contrast, households in the top 1% earned at least $676,000 that year.
Bezos is currently the fourth-richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $270 billion.
Mamdani’s New York
During the CNBC interview, Jeff Bezos repeatedly referred to the economic situation in New York, where Zohran Mamdani has emerged as one of the leading opponents of billionaires and large fortunes since taking office in January. The mayor, a member of the democratic socialist wing, has built much of his political visibility on calls to raise taxes on the wealthy, fueling criticism from business owners, real estate investors, and large taxpayers who had warned of the risk of companies and capital fleeing the city.
The first economic signals, however, appear to contradict those predictions. A month before Mamdani’s election, JPMorgan Chase opened its new global headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, signaling that one of the city’s largest employers does not intend to leave New York any time soon. Manhattan’s luxury real estate market has also surged: in the weeks following Mamdani’s election, signed contracts for apartments worth at least $4 million rose 25% compared with the previous year. The trend continued in the following months, with a 10% increase in contracts signed in May and an 80% jump in sales of properties above $10 million. In February, American Express announced — alongside Mamdani — the construction of a new global headquarters in midtown Manhattan, set to house more than 10,000 employees.
Mamdani and the political support behind «Tax the rich»
Zohran Mamdani posted a video on social media that quickly went viral, recorded in front of 220 Central Park South, one of the landmark buildings of Manhattan’s so-called «Billionaires’ Row». In the video, the mayor revived the «Tax the rich» slogan, announcing a proposed levy on italicpied-à-terreitalic properties — aimed at owners of residential real estate who do not live in the city full time.
Mamdani’s video showed several luxury buildings in Manhattan but focused on billionaire Ken Griffin — who, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has a net worth of nearly $50 billion — and who in 2019 bought a penthouse in the building for $238 million. The purchase is considered the most expensive private home sale ever in the United States. Griffin accused Mamdani of putting him «in danger» by showing the building in the video, and threatened to change his company’s plans for a new office tower in Manhattan. The building’s address, however, had been public for years and widely reported by the media.
Mamdani’s approach to taxation does not appear isolated within the US political landscape. A Fox News poll conducted in April found that many people believe the wealthy do not pay enough in federal income tax. In recent months, several US states have approved or debated new taxes targeting higher incomes: in March, Washington State introduced a millionaire tax, while Massachusetts, Maryland, and Maine have adopted similar measures in recent years. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Illinois, Colorado, and California are also weighing comparable proposals. At the federal level, however, an increase in taxes on large fortunes appears unlikely as long as the Republican Party controls the House, the Senate, and the White House.
Editor’s note
This article was originally published in Italian on money.it by Giulia Sami on May 21, 2026 as «Raddoppiare le tasse ai ricchi non aiuterà la classe media. Le parole di Jeff Bezos contro il “Tax the rich”». It has been translated and adapted for an international audience by the Money.it International desk.
