Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday rekindled her call for a tax on the wealth of the richest Americans, calling billionaire Amazon founder and aspiring space tourism magnate Jeff Bezos about his failure to pay his fair share.
“I want us to tax assets, but your assets are tied. It shouldn’t make a difference if you have real estate, if you have cash, or if you have a bazillion stocks of Amazon. Yes, Jeff Bezos, I, I’m looking at you, “said the Massachusetts Democrat in the” Squawk Box “.
“Whatever your wealth: diamonds, yachts, paintings – I think they should be taxed annually,” she added.
Bezos is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $ 207.7 billion, according to Forbes.
CNBC policy
Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:
A wealth tax, one of the most hotly debated tax proposals, is enjoying growing popularity among populist and progressive politicians as a means of tackling economic inequality.
During her 2020 presidential campaign, Warren proposed an annual “ultra-millionaire tax” of 2% on net worth over $ 50 million and 6% on assets over $ 1 billion. The revenue from such a tax – $ 2.7 trillion per Penn Wharton over a decade – would have been used to improve health care, childcare, housing and education programs.
Warren mentioned Amazon manager Bezos several times in her interview on Wednesday, arguing that he and others wrongly avoided it due to low annual book income and borrowing for his most valuable asset: his Amazon stock holdings, payments to the US tax system afford to.
“Jeff Bezos didn’t pay tax on his fortune,” she said. He is “worth a bazillion dollars. He paid no tax on all that wealth. … In fact, Jeff Bezos either paid no tax or paid 1% for many years.”
Their barbs for Bezos came a little over a week after the e-commerce tycoon shot to the edge of space with its space tourism company Blue Origin.
“For every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. That is very much appreciated,” said Bezos after his flight.
The tourism market is a sliver of the space economy estimated at $ 420 billion.
The launch marked Blue Origin’s entry into the private space market, joining Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic – its direct competitor in the suborbital tourism sector – and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
