Elizabeth Warren says Jeff Bezos 'forgot to thank all the working Americans who actually paid taxes

[applegrove]

 POLITICS

Elizabeth Warren says Jeff Bezos 'forgot to thank all the hardworking Americans who actually paid taxes' after his space flight

Azmi Haroun andJuliana Kaplan 

https://www.businessinsider.com/sen-warren-bezos-forgot-to-thank-americans-who-paid-taxes-2021-7?utm_source=reddit.com

"SNIP.....

Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized Jeff Bezos for not paying taxes after he landed back on earth.

Warren has criticized Bezos' tax rate before, including after a bombshell ProPublica report revealed how little the wealthiest pay.

Warren is also a longtime advocate for a wealth tax on those holding over $50 million.

.....SNIP"

[Pisces]

1. Time and place. We should celebrate today. It is an achievement.

[Scrivener7]

2. What was achieved?

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

43. Rich people seeking new thrills - not news. Hope they dont trash the place like they did to

Everest

[Skittles]

5. LOL

um, NO

[JI7]

16. Wasn't it achieved decades Ago ?

[DBoon]

22. Germany sent V2 rockets above that height during WWII

this is very old news indeed

[SoonerPride]

19. No we should not celebrate today.

It was a nothing achievement and a massive display of obscene wealth.

I would have celebrated if it had crashed.

[Pisces]

23. That is an ugly statement. You really don't deserve a response

[secondwind]

34. Thank you. Am appalled myself.

[Dial H For Hero]

50. That's a revolting sentiment.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

52. So you'd be ok if the others died also just because of your hatred of Bezos?

Do you realize just how ghoulish that sounds?

[MarineCombatEngineer]

3. And another bash Bezos thread, as if there aren't enough already.

I've lost count here.
Fucking ridiculous.

[applegrove]

9. He is not paying for the roads his trucks drive on or the schools that teach

people how to be internet savy enough to buy his stuff. I'm all for charity but i'm also for good government that can penalize the Saudis for killing one of Bezoses reporters and cut up into little pieces. Not everything should be directed by millionaires and billionaires. People from all walks of life should have a say in where the bounty of the country gets directed. Singularity in thinking is how civilizations are destroyed. Think Nazis, Soviets, Easter Islanders.

[gratuitous]

10. Yeah, we're just a bunch of envious slowcoaches

Sorry that you're offended by whatever it is that's offending you.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

13. You misunderstand,

I'm not offended at all, I just think it's fucking ridiculous at so many threads bashing Bezos, but what the hell, carry on the bashing.

[gratuitous]

17. Yup, slowcoaches

But you keep complaining because you're not offended at all. Okay. Sorry you have to complain so much about something that isn't offending you, unless that offends you.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

29. I'm 74 years old,

at this point in my life, very, very little offends me anymore, it's just my opinion that all these Bezos bashing threads is kinda redundant, but if that's what floats your boat, god bless you.
Have a great evening.

[Mysterian]

44. Go lick his shoes, then.

Like they do with Trump.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

45. Wow!!!

That was a well thought out, intellectual reply.
Surely someone of your obvious intelligence can do better.

[Mysterian]

48. I don't need to do better

You got the message and all you can do is respond with a personal attack.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

49. ....

You got the message and all you can do is respond with a personal attack.

Which is exactly what you did in the previous post, seems you can dish it out, but you can't take it.

Mysterian (2,440 posts)

44. Go lick his shoes, then.

Like they do with Trump

[Disaffected]

4. I read on another thread that Bezos

made charitable donations last year of approx. $10 billion. Maybe that goes a long way towards explaining why he pays little or no tax (are charitable donations in the US not a legit tax deduction?).

[Scrivener7]

12. He made 64 billion between April 2020 and April 2021.

https://justrichest.com/how-much-does-jeff-bezos-make-in-a-day-in-a-second-and-in-a-year/

10 billion is 15.6% of that.

That's a lower percentage than a person making $14,000 pays in federal taxes plus payroll taxes.

So no. It really doesn't explain it.

[Disaffected]

15. How do you figure

he "made" 64 billion? His stock holdings in Amazon may well have increased by that amount but that does not equate to personal income unless the stock is sold (most of which it wasn't AFAIK). IOWs capital gains are not realized (as income) until the stock is liquidated.

So then, the figure we need to know is his taxable income, not his stock value appreciation.

[Scrivener7]

18. Well then. That makes it fine that he doesn't pay any taxes.

[Disaffected]

27. Who said that? As several others have pointed out,

don't bitch at him, bitch at the tax laws if you think he should pay more. Maybe charitable donations should not be a tax deduction??

BTW, I wonder how much he would have had to pay if he had not made those charitable donations? Until we know that, we have no legitimate reason to criticize his tax status IMO (assuming his tax returns are legitimate).

As well, I'm not all that familiar with US tax law but capital gains tax will eventually realized (at least in part) on his gains for instance when he dies or disposes of the stock by some other means will they not(?).

[Scrivener7]

28. Who do you think bought the legislators that made those tax laws?

[Disaffected]

31. You're changing the topic.

Anyhow, I dunno, was it Bezos?? You tell me. And what tax laws are you specifically referring to? Charitable donation deductions?

The horse we seem to be beating here has almost expired so I'll bow out at this point.

[Celerity]

21. his net worth has went up almost 30 billion USD in the last 3 months, plus his ex wife is up to 60bn

https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?sh=451e5af41b23

[CentralMass]

6. Thank you Senator Warren.

[NCjack]

38. Bezo stood on the shoulders of the nation's small businesses, and

he crushed them. And, his crushing machine is continuing, even as the little guys struggle to find a path to survival while they pay their taxes.

[appalachiablue]

7. K/R uber wealthy pay your taxes

[Pisces]

24. More like Congress do your job and raise their taxes with no loopholes.

[Cha]

8. TY Sen Warren! Shame on Bezos for

NOT paying his Fair Share of Taxes to support his country.

[FlyingPiggy]

11. Jeff Bezos pays nothing in taxes bc our system is designed for

People like him to pay nothing. Instead of just pointing the finger at him, maybe we should also point the finger at the system.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

14. +100. nt

[DBoon]

20. German V2 rockets reached higher than Bezos did over 70 years ago

Maybe we should stop bashing Nazis and instead celebrate them for advancing science

[Pisces]

25. Dumb false equivalency.

[Scrivener7]

33. Then what was achieved?

[DBoon]

51. You are right in a way

The V2 rockets advanced the state of rocketry immensely. The engineering triumphs of this rocket started the era of modern space exploration.

Jeff Bezo's space shot was strictly a billionaire's publicity stunt relying on existing proven technology having no scientific purpose.

[Hoyt]

26. Yes, Sen Warren, Amazon doesn't pay a lot of taxes. But Bezos does.

He pays when he sells stock to fund his lifestyle. Plus, every time some small or large stockholder sells his stock, they pay taxes.

When Bezos’ xwife gives billions to charity, she pays taxes, although she often gets a deduction.

Amazon — what most call Bezos — will eventually pay taxes on income as startup, research, etc., deductions phase out.

I don’t despise Bezos. In fact to fund all the stuff we want/deserve, we need a bunch of Bezos.

We just need to increase their taxes.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

30. +100. nt

[Scrivener7]

32. He paid zero taxes last year.

And when other stockholders pay taxes, that isn't Bezos paying taxes. It's the other stockholders paying taxes.

And oh good. Amazon "will eventually pay taxes." How comforting.

I paid taxes last year. So did the kid down the block making minimum wage. How about you?

[Hoyt]

36. Amazon paid zero taxes. That's different from Bezos and millions of

stockholders. They pay taxes.

Under current tax laws, right or wrong, young companies get accelerated depreciation and deductions for research, etc. That stuff, we often call loopholes, has been approved and promoted by Democrats and GOPers over the years to spur jobs and the economy.

When those accelerated deductions fizzle out, Amazon will pay taxes, but perhaps offset by continued growth.

In the meantime, the US Treasury has collected tens of billions from stock sales, people who helped build Amazon (I’ll grant you some employees on the lower end did not fare as well) paying taxes, etc. And they built a damn delivery system that helped a lot of people during the pandemic.

Again, I’m for more Bezos, albeit taxed properly including a minimum tax for companies like Amazon.

[Justice matters.]

39. 50 Senate ReQublicans say "no, thanks" on taxing "corporations are people"...

and the debate ends there. Corporations are people who don't pay taxes...

[Hoyt]

40. Well, we gotta beat them GOPers. Bezos ain't our enemy when we tax him.

He’ll pay, as will others.

[Justice matters.]

41. Beat them how? Surely not with "more" Sinema's & Manchin's...

Sellouts like...

[secondwind]

35. Thank you.

[DLevine]

42. K&R. nt