Taxes

Jeff Bezos Is Right: Taxing Billionaires Won't Solve the Affordability Crisis

Before demanding more money from America’s wealthiest, lawmakers should account for the billions of dollars the federal government wastes each year.

Tosin Akintola | 5.20.2026 4:45 PM

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(Credit: Envato/Los Angeles Air Force Base Space and Missile System Center/Wikimedia Commons)

In a wide-ranging interview on CNBC's Squawk Box on Wednesday, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the fourth-richest man in the world, disputed claims that solving America's affordability crisis starts with increasing taxes on the wealthiest people in the country.

"When you don't know how to solve a problem, create a villain, blame them, but it won't solve the problem," Bezos said, referring to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax proposal. The idea would generate between $340 to $510 million in annual revenue, according to City Comptroller Mark Levine.

Bezos also floated the idea of low-income earners paying........

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