Jeff Bezos is copping a royal roasting on social media after he dismissed the idea of a billionaire tax and claimed it wouldn’t solve the problem of income inequality in the US.
The billionaire and former Amazon CEO caught the internet’s ire when he sat down for an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.
What did Jeff Bezos say?
Bezos, the fourth-richest man in the world, said increasing taxes for the billionaire class is “not going to help” those in “this country who are struggling”.
“You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens, I promise you,” Bezos said. “You have a bunch of people in this country who are doing really well, but you also have a bunch of people in this country who are struggling.”
Bezos, who said he pays “billions in taxes”, also accused US politicians of villainising the uber-wealthy as a tool to distract from the broader challenges facing the US.
“Politicians are using this kind of age-old technique [of] picking a villain and pointing fingers, but the problem is that it doesn’t solve anything,” Bezos said.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos says redistributing his wealth “won’t help.”
— Jacobin (@jacobin) May 20, 2026
“You could double the taxes that I pay, and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens. I promise you.” pic.twitter.com/6eVNYGwsQ3
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani — who campaigned on a wealth tax last year — was among those to react to Bezos’ interview on social media.
“I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ,” Mamdani quipped of Bezos’ teacher comment.
I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ. https://t.co/JEnRnM2xII
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 20, 2026
How did the internet react?
Mamdani was far from the only person to polish their cutlery for another round of Eat The Rich, with scores of users sounding off on Bezos’ interview online.
“The French had a solution for this,” one Instagram user wrote, in reference to the French Revolution being sparked over wealth tax exemptions. “Bezos trying to make us feel bad for billionaires while sitting in front of his rocket ship,” another critic wrote.
Others were a bit more blunt, saying “don’t p*ss me off today Jeff” or scolding him for “acting like a tax surplus wouldn’t benefit the working class”.
A billionaire tax would theoretically address concentrations of wealth by slowing the accumulation of extreme fortunes in the top one per cent and funding redistribution services — but it would need to be part of other policies in order to adequately close the wealth gap.
While he seemingly opposed a wealth tax — a policy already being proposed in some Democratic states — Bezos did throw somewhat of a bone when calling for the elimination of tax for low-income earners.
“I don’t want to reduce it, I want to eliminate it,” Bezos said, adding that the government can give “people who are struggling today” a better chance at entrepreneurial success “by eliminating their tax bill”.
It might be little consolation for all the folks still angered by Bezos’ wedding, co-chairing of the Met Gala, and acquisition of The Washington Post.
But hey, at least he’s thinking about that teacher in Queens.
Lead images: Getty, CNBC and Instagram
The post Jeff Bezos Just Cried Foul Over A Billionaire Tax & The Internet Is Sharpening Its Guillotine appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
