Jeff Bezos—Paid near-zero effective tax rates while accumulating massive wealth
ProPublica's 2021 'Secret IRS Files' investigation revealed that Jeff Bezos paid zero in federal income taxes in 2007 and 2011 despite his fortune growing by billions. In 2011, with wealth of $18 billion, Bezos reported a net loss and claimed a $4,000 child tax credit. His long-term strategy of taking minimal salary ($80,000/year) while borrowing against stock avoided income tax on appreciation. In 2024, when he sold $13.6 billion in Amazon stock, his effective annual tax rate was approximately 2.5%. Between 2006 and 2018, Bezos paid $1.4 billion in federal taxes while his wealth increased by $127 billion.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax Practices | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.993 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.66)
Evidence (2 signals)
Forbes estimated Bezos's effective tax rate at 2.5% on $13.6 billion in 2024 stock sales
For 2024, Forbes estimated that Bezos paid about $2.7 billion in tax on sales of $13.6 billion worth of Amazon stock (originally costing no more than $13,600), with 99.9999% of proceeds counting as long-term capital gains. This translated to an effective annual tax rate of approximately 2.5%, far below the top marginal income tax rate of 37%.
ProPublica revealed Bezos paid zero federal income tax in 2007 and 2011
ProPublica's 'Secret IRS Files' investigation revealed that Jeff Bezos paid zero in federal income taxes in 2007 (when Amazon stock doubled and his fortune grew $3.8 billion) and 2011 (when he claimed a net loss and a $4,000 child tax credit despite $18 billion in wealth). Between 2006 and 2018, Bezos paid $1.4 billion in taxes on $6.5 billion in reported income while his wealth increased by $127 billion.