Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is set to save an estimated $600 million by making the move from Washington to Florida due to the latter’s lack of state income taxes. According to Bloomberg, Bezos sold roughly $4 billion worth of Amazon stock in Florida during the week of February 5th, which could have saved him as much as $288 million.
As Valuetainment previously reported, Bezos announced he would be moving from Seattle to Miami to be closer to his parents and the launch site of his aerospace technology company Blue Origin. However, many suspected a third incentive was buried between the lines of his Instagram post: lower taxes in a state that welcomes business and the wealthy.
The timing made it obvious. In 2022, the state of Washington introduced a new 7 percent capital gains tax on sales of stocks and bonds over $250,000. Since Washington does not have a personal income tax, this would technically be the first time Bezos would have had to pay taxes for selling shares of Amazon and other stock—his source of wealth since 1998. As expected, Bezos has not sold any Amazon shares since the new tax law was passed. As soon as Bezos officially moved to the Miami area, he scheduled a sale of 50 million shares, which is expected to earn him $8.7 billion by January 2025.
Jeff Bezos will save over $600 million in taxes by moving to Miami https://t.co/BgpRQzb1i6
— CNBC (@CNBC) February 12, 2024
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He sold $2 billion worth of shares last week and saved $140 million simply by selling in Florida rather than Washington. On the 50-million-share sale, he is poised to save at least $600 million, if not far more.
For comparison, Bezos spent about $500 million on his 417-foot-long mega yacht known as “Koru.”
Bezos recently purchased two mansions on the Indian Creek island located in the Miami area, one for $79 million and the other for $68 million. Bezos also has homes in Washington, DC, New York City, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Maui, HI, and Van Horn, TX. His Texas home, a 300,000-acre ranch, encompasses the launch site for his Blue Origin “New Shephard” rocket.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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