Bernie Sanders has turned a talking point into a bill, and it goes further than anything Silicon Valley or the White House has put on the table.
On Thursday, the Vermont senator introduced legislation that would hit the largest AI companies with a one-time 50 per cent tax on their stock, paid in shares rather than cash.
That would hand the American public a half-stake in firms like OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI, and seed a sovereign wealth fund that Sanders estimates at roughly $7tn. It is the formal, far more aggressive version of an idea that has been circulating in Washington for weeks.
$1,000 a year, and a seat at the table
The fund would be required to pay out a 5 per cent annual dividend, which Sanders says would put more than $1,000 a year in every American’s pocket, with any surplus going to healthcare, education and housing.
