Amazon founder Jeff Bezos kept his base salary modest during his 20 years as CEO. It likely saved him millions in taxes
亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝索斯在担任CEO的20年里，一直保持着较低的基本工资。这可能为他节省了数百万美元的税款
Jeff Bezos gave himself a salary of just over $80,000 at Amazon, he revealed to The New York Times. But he was able to make much more off of his stock holdings.
杰夫·贝索斯向《纽约时报》透露，他在亚马逊的年薪仅略高于8万美元。但通过持有公司的股票，他获得了远高于此的收入。
Currently worth $246 billion, Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world. So it may come as a surprise to learn he kept his Amazon salary at just over $80,000 for decades.
作为全球最富有的富豪之一，杰夫·贝索斯的净资产高达2460亿美元。因此，得知他在亚马逊的薪水几十年来一直保持在8万美元左右，可能会让人感到惊讶。
“My view was I was a founder, “ the former CEO and founder of Amazon toldThe New York Times. “I already owned a significant amount of the company and I just didn’t feel good about taking more.”
“我的观点是，我是一名创始人。”这位亚马逊的前CEO和创始人对《纽约时报》表示：“我已经拥有了公司相当大一部分的股份，因此我并不想拿更多的薪水。”
While he wasn’t making much on paper, Bezos was still becoming one of the world’s richest men. Between 2023 and 2024, Bezos made $8 million for every hour in the year— Inc.com’s Jeff Haden calculates. That’s all thanks to his stake in Amazon.
虽然账面收入不高，但贝索斯仍然成为了全球最富有的人之一。根据Inc网站的杰夫·哈登的计算，在2023年到2024年间，贝索斯每小时的收入高达800万美元，这全归功于他在亚马逊的持股。
“I had plenty of incentive,” Bezos said. “I owned more than 10% of the company. I just felt, how could I possibly need more incentive?” Since departing Amazon, Bezos has periodically sold his stock in the company, with an overarching goal of selling 25 million shares before the end of 2025.
“我有着足够的激励。”贝索斯说道，“我已经拥有了公司超过10%的股份。我觉得，我怎么可能还需要更多的激励呢？”离开亚马逊后，贝索斯定期出售公司股票，目标是在2025年底前出售2500万股。
Calling founders “owner-operators.” Bezos added that they build their wealth “not by getting more equity, they just want to make the equity they have more valuable.” That’s all to say, it’s not like Bezos was living off of $80,000—rather, he was making billions off of his company’s increased profitability.
贝索斯将创始人称为“所有者-经营者”，并补充说，他们积累财富的方式“不是通过获取更多的股权，而是通过提升现有股权的价值”。也就是说，贝索斯并非靠着8万美元的年薪生活，而是通过公司利润的增长获得了巨额的财富。
“I asked the comp committee of the board not to give me any comp,” he said, adding later that he would have “felt icky” otherwise and he’s “very proud of that decision” to keep his compensation flat.
“我要求董事会薪酬委员会不要给我任何薪酬。”他说，并补充道，如果接受高薪，他会感到“不舒服”。他还表示，对自己保持薪酬不变的决定“感到非常自豪”。
Lower salary means less taxes for billionaires
低薪意味着亿万富翁的税收负担更少
Still, Bezos has benefited financially from the move. Back in 2007 and 2011, Bezos didn’t pay any federal income taxes, according to a 2021 ProPublica review of decades of IRS data belonging to America’s wealthiest businessmen. Their analysis found that Bezos avoided federal income taxes those years in part because he reported investment losses that were greater than his salary.
然而，贝索斯从这一做法中获益匪浅。2021年，《ProPublica》对美国最富有企业家数十年的美国国税局（IRS）数据进行分析后发现，2007年和2011年，贝索斯并未缴纳任何联邦所得税。分析显示，部分原因是他申报的投资损失超过了工资收入。
But he’s not alone. Other billionaires like Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, and Michael Bloomberg have been able to make use of similar tax laws. The highest federal income tax rate in the United States is currently 37%, but the ProPublica analysis found most of these billionaires were all paying under 4% in their “true tax rate.”
但他并非个例。埃隆·马斯克、沃伦·巴菲特和迈克尔·布隆伯格等其他亿万富翁也利用了类似的税法进行避税。虽然美国联邦最高所得税税率为37%，但《ProPublica》的分析发现，这些亿万富翁的实际有效税率大多低于4%。
By measuring total income, wealth growth, actual taxes paid, and income from 2014 to 2018, ProPublica found that Bezos’ so-called “true tax rate” was 0.98%. That was still more than Buffet, whose “true tax rate” came in at 0.10%.
通过测算2014年至2018年的总收入、财富增长、实际缴税额和收入，ProPublica发现贝索斯的实际有效税率为0.98%。即使如此，仍高于巴菲特的0.10%。
With a salary that’s comparatively low, Bezos’ worth is mostly tied to his investments. If the billionaire doesn’t sell, those holdings can’t be taxable— notes ProPublica. In other words, by not paying himself much annually, Bezos was likely able to save millions, perhaps even billions.
由于工资相对较低，贝索斯的财富主要与他的投资挂钩。《ProPublica》指出，如果亿万富翁不出售股票，这些持股就无法征税。换句话说，通过每年不支付自己太高的薪水，贝索斯可能节省了数百万，甚至数十亿美元的税款。
