Hamilton, 41, was interviewed by Jay Shetty for the “On Purpose” podcast back in 2023, in which he’s estimated to have earned $55 million as one of Formula 1’s highest-paid drivers, and said the nation’s wealth disparity is something “I struggle with every day.”
He went on to say he doesn’t think people “should be able to have billions,” adding: “I think there should be a limit to how much you can have because there’s enough to go around for everyone.”
A clip from the interview was re-shared to X over the weekend in a post that has since been viewed more than 20 million times as Hamilton’s reality-TV-star-turned-business-mogul girlfriend showed up in Monaco, the country with the highest cost of living in the world, via yacht to watch him race.
Online commenters were quick to slam Hamilton, who is estimated to have earned $100 million in the last year, for what they deemed “hypocritic” and “virtue signalling” from a man who has “literally structured his life to pay as little tax as possible.”
People pointed out Hamilton’s residency status—he’s been subject to tax advantages in Monaco and Switzerland for much of the last two decades—and called him out for reportedly using a complex leasing scheme to save roughly $4 million in European taxes on his private jet.
Neither Hamilton nor Kardashian have commented on the re-surfaced controversy.
FORBES VALUATION
Hamilton, one of the most marketable athletes in Formula 1, is not a billionaire but was ranked 10th on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid athletes this year with estimated earnings of $100 million. He earns an estimated $60 million in base salary per season as part of his racing contract with Ferrari and has sponsorships from Petronas, Tommy Hilfiger, Perplexity AI, Lululemon, Monster Energy, Sony and other brands. His investments include the Denver Broncos, non-alcoholic spirit brand Almave, TMRW Sports and Dawn Apollo Films. Kardashian, who became famous as a reality TV star before launching successful companies like Skims and KKW Beauty, is worth an estimated $1.9 billion.
KEY BACKGROUND
Hamilton has been a Formula 1 driver for almost 20 years and, in his debut year, became the first black driver to compete in Formula One at the Australian Grand Prix. He holds a joint-record seven World Drivers’ Championships and the all-time records for most race wins and pole positions. In 2007, he moved to Switzerland from the UK to avoid a sky-high tax bill that was at the time estimated to be about a quarter of his income. Several years later he established tax residency in Monaco, where many Formula 1 drivers live, which allows him to legally shield his earnings from personal income, capital gain and wealth taxes (Monaco levies no personal taxes on residents). Hamilton faced criticism in 2013 after he managed to avoid millions of dollars in British VAT, a consumption tax, while purchasing his £16.5 million luxury private jet. Hamilton’s lawyers set up a complicated leasing arrangement involving offshore companies to make it happen, which a spokesperson later called “above board.” The jet is part of a larger luxury lifestyle maintained by Hamilton that reportedly includes properties in Switzerland, Monaco, London, Milan, Colorado and New York City. He made headlines last year when he said he’d sold his entire car collection, which at one time included a custom-built Pagani Zonda 760 LH, Mercedes-AMG One and several Ferraris. He said he sold his cars to focus on building an art collection: “That’s my favorite thing to invest in. I really, really love to buy young up-and-coming black artists as well, and African art.”
