Political | Process

The White House on Monday pushed back against Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos after he criticized the Biden administration in two tweets over the weekend for tying the corporate tax structure to rising inflation.

The tweets were spurred by one from President Biden on Friday, which said: “You want to bring down inflation? Let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share.”

Mr. Bezos responded by saying the two issues should be discussed separately. “Mushing them together is just misdirection,” he tweeted.

Mr. Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive in July and remained as executive chairman, again tweeted on Sunday that the passage of the $1.9 trillion America Rescue Plan, which Mr. Biden signed into law in March, contributed to high inflation.

He also said that Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D., W.Va.) objection to Mr. Biden’s other spending plans kept the administration from adding to inflation.

“In fact, the administration tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already overheated, inflationary economy and only Manchin saved them from themselves. Inflation is a regressive tax that most hurts the least affluent. Misdirection doesn’t help the country,” Mr. Bezos tweeted.

Mr. Biden had initially proposed a child-care, healthcare and climate package, which the party had pegged at $3.5 trillion before passing a roughly $2 trillion package in the House.

The package has been in limbo in the Senate, where Mr. Manchin’s support is necessary for Democrats to pass the legislation through the 50-50 Senate over Republican opposition. The senator has raised concerns about another spending package leading to higher inflation.

Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the White House, said in a statement that “it doesn’t require a huge leap to figure out why” Mr. Bezos would oppose Mr. Biden’s economic proposals that would raise taxes on the wealthy.

“It’s also unsurprising that this tweet comes after the president met with labor organizers, including Amazon employees.”

Mr. Biden recently stopped by a meeting at the White House with labor organizers, including Christian Smalls, a former Amazon employee who has led unionization efforts of Amazon workers on Staten Island. Mr. Biden shook hands with and hugged Mr. Smalls, jokingly saying: “You’re trouble, man.”