India, May 22 -- In a surprising pivot during a conversation about economic inequality, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos this week publicly championed a radical tax overhaul, saying that the bottom 50% of earners in the US should be totally exempt from income taxes. The billionaire, who frequently faces scrutiny over wealth disparity, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box, where he framed the current tax burden on lower-income households not just as an economic inefficiency, but as a moral failing. He added that he would speak to US President Donald Trump about eradicating taxation on wages for the bottom half.

'Zero is a More Powerful Number'

Bezos' proposal is centred on a sweeping vision he made verbal on-air, saying that the US must eliminate the ...