• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says lower earners in the US should pay zero tax.
• Using the example of a "nurse in Queens," Bezos questioned the current income taxation model.
• "There's something very powerful about zero," Bezos said in an interview with CNBC.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the fourth-richest man in the world, says low earners in the US should pay no tax.

"1% of taxpayers pay 40% of all the tax revenue; the bottom half pay only 3%. I think it should be zero," Bezos said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.

"There's something very powerful about zero."

During the interview, Bezos repeatedly criticized taxation on lower-income workers, using the example of a "nurse in Queens earning $75,000."

Speaking from his Blue Origin rocket facility in Florida, Bezos said the US in 2026 is a "tale of two economies."

"You have a bunch of people in this country who are doing really well, but you also have a bunch of people in this country who are struggling," Bezos said.

"Some people talk about making the tax system more progressive. How about we start by having the nurse in Queens not pay taxes?"

"Why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes? That's $1,000 a month that could help with rent, groceries, or anything."

He later used the example of an Amazon worker in New York making around $50,000 a year, calling the idea of taxing them "absurd."

"Why are you taxing them so much? I really am puzzled by this."

This is a developing story.