According to a recent report by Forbes, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, donated 98.5 million USD (704 Crores INR) to 32 organizations in 23 states that are helping the homeless. As of today, Jeff Bezos stands as the world’s richest man, followed by Bill Gates, and his current net worth is 109 Billion USD. While his donation might seem like a lot to the average person, it really isn’t.
According to a report by Independent, Jeff’s donation accounts for less than 1% of his wealth, 0.09% to be exact.
A very significant cause of concern here is that Amazon allegedly didn’t pay a single penny in 2018’s US federal income tax. If Jeff Bezos were to pay tax, like all of us, he would be paying $9 Billion USD (64383 Cr INR) according to Bernie Sander’s wealth tax plan.
This has enraged a lot of people online who have taken to Twitter to express their disappointment over Bezos’ allegedly “tiny” contribution for the homeless and his overall exemption from paying tax:
1.
That’s 0.09% of your net worth.
Just pay your taxes. https://t.co/KEke1NUE8E
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) November 24, 2019
2.
https://twitter.com/TwitTurd4/status/1199248973824966656
3.
Since everybody’s talking about #JeffBezos donating $98 million to charity, I figured I’d give this an RT.
Don’t let his shit philanthropy fool you. https://t.co/3F5W0C8xhi
— FREE PALESTINE (@mfinnthepoet) November 24, 2019
4.
https://twitter.com/siano4progress/status/1199008125824765953
5.
#jeffbezos can only give millions to charities because he pays fuckall tax and pays his staff poorly. If he paid proper tax and paid his staff better sure he'd have to scrape by on a few million a year but I'm sure everyone would be better off.
— James (@StarmanJames) November 25, 2019
6.
If you made $50,000 per year this is the equivalent of giving away $45. pic.twitter.com/yBAeL7ExRV
— Eat The Rich Podcast (@EatTheRichPod) November 23, 2019
7.
Jeff Bezos could buy a $150,000 house for every homeless person in America and still have almost $20 BILLION in personal wealth
— Carl Gibson (@crgibs) November 23, 2019
8.
https://twitter.com/therepubliccan1/status/1198335427255701510
9.
ah, i too have donated .08% of my income to charity! I am just as philanthropic as Jeff Bezos (fuck you jeff) https://t.co/z2oj3CtmRb
— yohan (@YoungBrohan) November 24, 2019
10.
Exactly! A lot of people massively applauded Jeff Bezos' donation 🤔 If you're earning £25K (so around £20K after tax/NI) & donated £3 a month to a charity for about 6 months, you also would have donated 0.09% too https://t.co/mBLbUKwHAH
— ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕪 𝕄𝕔𝔽𝕝𝕪 (@SSJBens) November 25, 2019
11.
https://twitter.com/siano4progress/status/1199012962733821952
12.
The wealth of the billionaire class is almost incomprehensible.
The Waltons get $70,000 richer every minute.
Jeff Bezos makes $2,489 a second.
That is why it is not radical to say that millions of people in this country should not be paid starvation wages.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 25, 2019
13.
https://twitter.com/ericweiskott/status/1198614206125400068
14.
Somewhere in here is #JeffBezos needle of charitable donation… #mondaythoughts pic.twitter.com/8A0iPfhQq9
— Matt Smith (@thewy003) November 25, 2019
15.
Jeff, please pay your share of tax revenue. Then your donations will make sense as an act of altruism. This small donation is not a substitute for your tax burden. Imagine if every American could opt out of paying taxes…
— Theresa Adkins (@treesatreesa) November 25, 2019
16.
Homeless is a structural issue that exists because of giant corporations like Amazon and the wealth disparity they've created. His donations are empty – Bezos is the problem, not part of the solution.
— stefanie berganini (@burgerpanini) November 23, 2019
While donations made by ultra-rich personalities might seem impressive from the outside, there is a whole different story on the inside. Homelessness and poverty wouldn’t occur in the first place hadn’t there been an unequal distribution of wealth. Studies have revealed that 1% of the world’s population owns half of the world’s wealth. Why should there be such a massive global wealth inequality is the question.