His complete tweet stated that the recently established Disinformation Board should evaluate his tweet, or perhaps they should establish a new Non Sequitur Board. He believes that discussing raising corporate taxes is acceptable and discussing taming inflation is crucial. However, he feels that combining the two topics is simply a diversion. Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, continued to express his displeasure in a subsequent tweet on Sunday, as reported by the DealBook newsletter. He praised Joe Manchin, the moderate senator from West Virginia who has often disagreed with other Democrats on economic matters, blocking further stimulus plans. Bezos commended Manchin for preventing Democrats from making a mistake, involving Amazon in political matters during a challenging time internally, as employees were pushing for unionization. Amid backlash faced by companies involved in controversial debates, many executives have been trying to avoid getting involved. Engaging in a public debate with the government about taxes on Twitter would draw attention to a sensitive issue for Amazon, which reported nearly $36 billion in US pretax income in 2021 but claimed to owe only about $2 billion in federal taxes. That is a tax rate of 6 percent, which is less than one-third of what both corporations and workers have to pay. When Biden announced plans to increase rates and close tax loopholes last year, he specifically called out Amazon, stating, "I don't want to punish them, but that's just not right." Amazon did not respond to DealBook's request for a comment. Disney recently lost its special tax status in Florida after opposing a law that restricted discussions on gender identity in schools. Now, Republican lawmakers at both the state and federal levels are working on similar retaliatory legislation for politically active businesses. However, for executives, it is a delicate balance. Many individuals involved with corporations are urging them to take a stand on social issues, particularly now that abortion rights are a prominent topic in the upcoming midterm elections. Amazon's current CEO, Andy Jassy, is likely not eager to enter this debate at the moment. Jeff Bezos, on the other hand, quietly builds relationships with the government, similar to Elon Musk. Despite publicly criticizing the Biden administration, Bezos's Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX both heavily lobby officials for space exploration funding and NASA contracts. Senator Bernie Sanders has accused these billionaires of treating NASA as a source of easy money. He used Twitter to address Bezos on Saturday regarding Amazon's labor problems and increasing profits, stating that Amazon is spreading false information by promoting anti-union messages and requiring workers to attend illegal meetings. He also criticized Amazon for attributing a 17 percent price increase to inflation while making a significant profit and avoiding taxes.