A new Amazon filing, detailing Jeff Bezos’ plan to sell a slice of his stake in the company, sheds fresh light on his move from Seattle to Miami — and his ability to avoid Washington state’s capital gains tax in the process.
The filing reveals that the Amazon founder and executive chairman adopted a trading plan Nov. 8 to sell up to 50 million Amazon shares during a period ending in January 2025. It would be the first time he has sold Amazon stock since 2021.
The plan was adopted less than a week after Bezos announced on Instagram, on Nov. 2, that he was leaving his longtime home of Seattle for sunnier skies in Miami.
In his Instagram post, Bezos said he wanted to be closer to his parents and Blue Origin space venture in Florida. He did not mention taxes.
But given Bezos’ recent move out of Washington — where he founded and built Amazon into a global behemoth — he will also be saving around $600 million in tax expense if he ends up selling the maximum of 50 million shares under the plan, based on the company’s current stock price.
That’s around $600 million in what would have otherwise been tax revenue for his former home state, as The Center Square reported Monday.
The capital gains tax, passed in 2021, imposes a 7% tax on any gains of more than $250,000 from the sale of stocks and bonds, with some exceptions. It was challenged in court but ultimately ruled constitutional by the state Supreme Court last year. The tax brought in nearly $900 million in its first year of collection. Revenue goes toward early education and childcare programs, as well as school construction projects.
Advocates of the tax say it’s a way to alter Washington’s regressive tax laws to help low-wage earners. Opponents warned that the capital gains tax would cause businesses to leave the region.
Florida, like Washington state, does not have an income tax. It also does not have a capital gains tax.
Bezos controlled about 12.3% of the company’s outstanding stock as of a February 2023 proxy filing, including shares he fully owns and shares owned by his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, over which he still has voting rights. If he were to sell the maximum 50 million shares indicated by the filing, he would still control about 11.8% of the company’s stock, a decline of approximately half a percentage point.
He has used Amazon stock sales over the years to fund projects and initiatives including his Blue Origin space venture. Bezos also launched a $2 billion Bezos Day One Fund in 2018 that focuses on homeless families and preschool education.
A stock sale of 50 million shares would result in gross proceeds of more than $8.5 billion, at Amazon’s current share price. The company’s stock closed at more than $170 per share on Monday.
Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the think tank Tax Foundation, wrote in November that “a Washington state revenue official was probably moved to tears” with Bezos’ announcement that he was moving to Miami.
“And whether tax savings motivated his move or not, the implications for Washington are very real, and serve to illustrate just how dangerous it can be to design tax systems that rely so overwhelmingly on a very small number of taxpayers choosing to stay put,” Walczak wrote.
Washington state Sen. Noel Frame, who sponsored a wealth tax proposal last year, told GeekWire in November that she doesn’t buy the narrative that wealthy people move to avoid paying high taxes, pointing to research that says otherwise.
Frame said economic competitiveness is not about tax policy but rather factors such as infrastructure investments or public education.
“We should tax wealth and reinvest those dollars in amenities that attract early stage entrepreneurs to our state, so they lay down roots here and raise their families and build their wealth,” Frame said. “That’s what the data tells us. And that’s exactly what [Bezos] did with Amazon.”
Update: Responding to an inquiry from GeekWire this week, Sen. Frame provided a statement: “As you know, when Bezos moved to Miami, he was clear his motivation was to be closer to his family and work with Blue Origin. While some conservatives keep citing the capital gains tax as a motivation, I haven’t heard Bezos say that. Some of those conservative pundits might care more about playing politics than telling the truth. With Amazon’s stock at a high price right now, this seems like a logical time for somebody to want to sell, regardless of what state’s tax code they’re under.”
