kvlamis@insider.com (Kelsey Vlamis)
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren took a jab at Jeff Bezos over his recent space flight as other Americans struggle financially.
- Warren said if the billionaire can go to space, he can afford to pay more in taxes.
- ProPublica reported Bezos paid $0 in income taxes for at least two years from 2006-2018.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted Sunday about Jeff Bezos’s recent space flight, saying that if he can afford to go to space he can afford to pay more in taxes.
“The richest guy on Earth can launch himself into space while over half the country lives paycheck to paycheck, nearly 43 million are saddled with student debt, and child care costs force millions out of work,” Warren tweeted. “He can afford to pitch in so everyone else gets a chance.”
Jeff Bezos, the founder and former CEO of Amazon, paid $0 in federal income taxes for at least two years between 2006 and 2018, ProPublica reported in June. The bombshell report also revealed Tesla CEO Elon Musk did the same thing in 2018.
Insider’s Lynnley Browning reported in 2019 that Amazon also paid $0 in income taxes in 2017 and 2018.
Bezos is currently listed by Forbes as the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $209.2 billion.
The billionaire’s space exploration company Blue Origin successfully completed its first passenger space flight on Tuesday, launching Bezos and three others into space for about three minutes of weightlessness.
Warren had also taken a jab at Bezos over the flight last week, writing on Twitter: “Jeff Bezos forgot to thank all the hardworking Americans who actually paid taxes to keep this country running while he and Amazon paid nothing.”
Insider has reached out to Amazon for comment.
Last I checked Jeff has over 100,000 employed. He used his money to build a rocket launch company and an rocket manufacturing company. Who knows how many people that employs. All these people not only pay taxes which his company has to match. He has created a new type of rocket that the world hasn’t seen before. One that is reusable. Please remind me Liz Warren what have you done lately? Besides trying daily to ruin our country.