Salaries are for suckers -- Our Tax System Should Make You Furious [View all]

Let’s focus on Jeff Bezos because he’s much more of a classic case. Jeff Bezos started his own business. He owns a dominant amount of the stock.

And over the course of the years, he has taken a salary that is no higher than $82,000. It’s been more than 20 years now, and his salary is always capped at $82,000.

You might say: Well, why would it be? He started the company — he’s the man. Why isn’t he taking a huge salary to reflect all that he put into the company?

The reason is: Salaries are for suckers. When people take a salary, they’re subject to high income taxes and payroll taxes, and Jeff Bezos and a lot of our other multibillionaires have no interest in paying those taxes.

So instead, they take their benefits through the growing value of their stock — and their stock has grown enormously. And that massive growth of stock happens entirely tax free — with no time frame under our current system in which that stock will ever be subject to tax.

That is because we only impose a tax if the stock is sold, and Bezos never has to sell the stock because he can simply borrow against the stock and use that money to support his lifestyle and to pay any interest that’s due on the loan.


https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ray-madoff.html?unlocked_article_code=1.blA.F-pW.Om--tFq-EBet&smid=url-share