Related: Robert Reich posted earlier today that Tesla paid ZERO taxes on $5 billion in sales (earnings?), so that’s just fucking great.
this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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That's because Bezos's net worth is in imaginary money. His actual income from Amazon was only like $80k a year.
Unrealized gains shouldn't be taxed unless they're being used as collateral to get real money.
Dude, I'm on 80k a year. Pretty sure I couldn't afford a gazillion-dollar wedding in Venice
And? My point is the real money he got from Amazon that can actually be taxed is not the same as his estimated net worth.
Bezos doesn't have a checking account with billions sitting in it. His wealth is in the unrealized gains on non-liquid assets. It's imaginary money until it's used as collateral for loans, at which point it should be taxed as a realized gain.
That would be the "unless it's used as collateral to get real money." part
How about a wealth tax on this imaginary money?
What amount will be taxed? The assets change value every second the market is open. If you have a hard capture date, then the wealthy will tank their stocks right before.
The best way to tax it is to treat the use of the asset as collateral as a realized gain and tax it as such.