News

Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ move to Miami shows just how hard it is to tax the rich

Jeff Bezos’ Miami Move Shows How Hard It Is to Tax the RichJeff Bezos’ move to Miami shows just how hard it is to tax the rich

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos in Miami for F1’s Miami Grand Prix last year.Clive Mason – Formula 1

It’s a tale as old as our convoluted tax code: Rich people will do anything, including move across the country, to avoid paying taxes.

Jeff Bezos announced in November that he was leaving Washington state, his home for 29 years, and moving to Florida with his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. The pair scooped up two properties for $147 million in the exclusive Indian Creek Village, an island off Miami known as the “billionaire bunker.”

He cited a slew of reasons for the move: He wanted to be closer to his parents and Blue Origin’s Cape Canaveral operations, plus he and Sánchez love Miami. What he didn’t mention was Florida’s favorable tax code.

It looks as if it probably factored in, though.

Earlier this month, Bezos announced plans to unload 50 million Amazon shares, worth about $8.5 billion, over the next year. Last week, he sold 12 million shares worth more than $2 billion, per Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

It’s a return to form for Bezos. Each year from 1998 to 2021, Bezos sold Amazon shares to fund his personal and philanthropic activities. But he stopped in 2022, the same year Washington state imposed a 7% capital-gains tax on gains of over $250,000 for those domiciled there. Florida, in contrast, has a capital-gains tax rate of zero. In fact, it’s one of the eight states that don’t have a capital-gains tax.

For someone selling securities worth billions, like Bezos, the difference amounts to a lot of money. Thanks to his new Florida address, he could save more than $610 million in state taxes over the course of the year as he continues to sell shares, CNBC first reported. For last week’s sales alone, he avoided paying $140 million.

Bezos is far from the only ultrawealthy person to circumvent paying a very small fraction of their wealth to the government — $610 million is just 0.3% of his net worth of $197 billion — thanks to Florida’s favorable tax code.

A 2023 analysis of tax-filing data found that Florida and Texas gained the most high earners between 2020 and 2021. The billionaires Ken Griffin, Carl Icahn, Daniel Och, and Josh Harris have moved to Florida over the past five years.

Though some, like Griffin — who has spent millions of dollars fighting tax increases for the wealthy — have said lower taxes didn’t factor into their moves, reports have suggested that others, like Icahn and Och, did head to the Sunshine State for tax reasons.

While some may say that Bezos is teaching the Evergreen State a lesson, it’s still home to about a dozen billionaires, including Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and MacKenzie Scott, Bezos’ ex-wife. And for those members of the superrich set, the adage remains true: Nothing is certain but death and taxes.

Correction: February 13, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the amount Bezos avoided in taxes on his recent sale of shares. It was $140 million, not $147 million. The story also misstated the value of Bezos’ real-estate portfolio in Miami. It is $147 million, not $179 million.

Related Posts

Highly paid prisoners are earning more on average than the prison officers who guard them, shocking figures reveal

Britain’s highest-paid inmates are earning more on average than the prison officers who guard them, shocking data shows. Last year’s highest-earning prisoner had a net salary after tax of £36,715, while prison officers working outside London are paid £32,448. Nine other inmates had net earnings of more than £22,900 last year, Freedom of Information figures obtained by the Sunday Telegraph show.

Laos doctor who treated ‘methanol poisoning’ victim, 19, has told of how she went from confused to comatose in half an hour then died nine days later

A doctor who treated a teenage backpacker killed by poisoned alcohol in Laos has told how she went from confused to suffering a coma within just half an hour. Holly Bowles, 19, of Melbourne, Australia, died from suspected methanol poisoning on Friday during her travels, just one day after the death of her best friend Bianca Jones. Dr Yaher, from the district hospital in the town of Vang Vieng, was the first medical professional to treat Ms Bowles – one of six tourists who lost their life after consuming spirits contaminated with the chemical methanol.

Blinken mocked for hosting State Department ‘cry sessions’ after officials have ‘personal meltdown’ over Trump victory

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is under fire after being accused of holding therapy ‘cry sessions’ for department staffers upset over Donald Trump’s election victory. Blinken, who is expected to be replaced by Marco Rubio in January, has frequently clashed with the Republican-controlled Congress, being held in contempt in September for skipping a hearing on the disastrous exit from Afghanistan. California Congressman and Trump ally Darrell Issa wrote an open letter to Blinken smashing the State Department for the rumored counseling sessions over Trump’s win, calling them ‘disturbing.’

We used to love our town’s Christmas market… but anti-social yobs, rip-off food prices and stalls selling tat have ruined it! How Britain’s favourite festive day out became a source of annual dread for locals

Locals living in the shadow of Britain’s biggest Christmas markets claim the annual Bavarian tradition is being tainted by anti-social behaviour and rip off food and drinks which have priced them out of their high streets. Residents in Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester have all reported seeing the cost of their annual trip to their local market soar this year in an un-festive continuation of the cost of living crisis. Meanwhile, visitors to London’s Winter Wonderland have said that the Hyde Park attraction – where a pint of beer can sell for as much as £12 – is now unaffordable.

Influencer arrested for fleecing Target with cunning checkout barcode hack and flaunting goods on TikTok

A glamorous influencer has been arrested for shoplifting from a Target after she flaunted the goods in a video on TikTok. Marlena Velez, 22, who has nearly 300,000 followers on the video sharing app in which she posts videos about her life as a mom to two kids, is facing petty theft charges for allegedly stealing more than $500 from the Target store in Cape Coral, Florida on October 30. Local police said they were called to the store last Wednesday for a report of a retail theft, and when officers arrived on the scene, loss prevention staff told them that an unknown female entered the store and selected a number of items.

Fast and Factual LIVE: Hezbollah’s Rocket Barrage Causes Damage Near Tel Aviv, Several Injured

Hezbollah launched approximately 250 projectiles targeting Tel Aviv and southern Israel, marking a significant escalation in hostilities. Israeli Defense Forces conducted airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, destroying two…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *