Elizabeth Warren's Wealth Tax Would Cost Jeff Bezos $4.1 Billion in First Year

Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, would have to pay $4.1 billion in the first year under U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s soon-to-be proposed wealth tax, based on his current net worth of $137.1 billion.

The Amazon.com Inc. founder and the other 174 Americans on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, would collectively owe $61 billion.

Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, plans to propose a tax of 2 percent on those with assets of $50 million to $1 billion and 3 percent on all fortunes exceeding $1 billion, the Washington Post reported Thursday. The tax would raise $2.75 trillion over a decade from about 75,000 families, the newspaper said, citing an economist advising Warren on the plan.

Almost all of Bezos’s net worth is tied up in Amazon stock, and such a tax bill could force him to sell some. He currently has $2.5 billion of cash and other liquid assets, according to the Bloomberg wealth index’s net worth analysis. Bezos, 55, eventually may share the tax burden with his wife MacKenzie. The couple announced earlier this month that they plan to divorce.