Come on Jeffrey, You Can Do It!
Written by Nicholas Rhudy
While I am not typically a defender (or really an attacker for that matter) of Jeff Bezos, I do find myself having to defend the Bond villain and simp for him nearly as much as Bo Burnham. As Jeffery’s rocket raised him and other affluent individuals high into the heavens, so did members of the Left raise their quavering voices.
They accused the man of selfishness and wasting money on a hobby. Jeff’s little adventure cost him 5.5 billion dollars according to Distractify and lasted just over 10 minutes, a stat leaving most American men jealous. However, with that information, I will still complain that the county fair is ripping me off for a twenty-dollar armband for rides that are more likely to lead to great bodily harm or my death than riding in a spaceship.
As if two-day shipping wasn’t enough to appease the masses, the Left decided to go back to the greatest hits. They accused Mr. Bezos of not paying his fair share in taxes and spending money frivolously when people are hungry and homeless and not donating to charity out of his immense wealth. While I actually agree with the sentiment that it is up to private citizens and religious groups to care for the needy, I think he has been doing plenty. And I also do not think forced charity is the solution to any problem. Regardless most of the time these complaints are filed ignorantly and Mr. Bezos has been doing enough.
Jeff Bezos has donated to charity, to the tune of last year, according to the AP, donating over 10 billion dollars. Last year he also paid 1% of his earnings which totaled near 1 billion dollars. While you may think that paying only one percent of taxes is not a fair shake, you would be misinformed. According to the Heritage Foundation in a study of the 2018 tax season, they found that the top 1% of earners ($540,000 gross and up) pay 40% of all Federal Income tax while “only” earning 21% of all income earned. On the flip side, the bottom 50% of earners earn 12% of all income and only pay 3% of Federal Taxes.
It is such an ignorant take on top of all of this. Taxing the rich until they bleed will only hurt the consumer and those who work for them. Innovation would suffer.