Bernie Sanders $7 trillion AI plan: 50% tax on top AI firms

Bernie Sanders unveiled legislation to create a $7 trillion sovereign wealth fund financed by a one-time 50 percent tax on the stock of the largest AI companies, and to give Americans direct influence over corporate AI decision-making.

The law would hit any AI firm with $200 million or more in annual AI sales, impose the one-time stock tax on those firms, and place fund oversight with a seven-member Independent Commission for Democratic AI, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

What does the plan do?

The bill creates a $7 trillion fund, paid for by a one-time 50 percent tax on the stock of AI firms that do $200 million or more in annual AI sales, and it would use voting shares to give the public power over company decisions. Sanders estimated the fund could generate “hundreds of billions of dollars annually in direct payments to Americans and programs such as health care, education and housing,” and he calculated each American would likely receive more than $1,000 annually from 5 percent annual dividends.

Beyond cash payouts, the proposal requires corporate governance changes: a bipartisan Independent Commission for Democratic AI of seven members would oversee the fund and could, using voting shares, block company decisions deemed harmful to the public. The draft also requires firms to split their non-AI business from their AI business, a divestiture rule that could affect companies that have already merged AI operations with other businesses.

How did industry and officials respond?

Industry leaders and some political actors pushed back: in a meeting with Sanders, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman remained "far apart" with the senator on how much public stake should exist, sources in the room told AP News. Anthropic cofounder Dario Amodei has expressed support for some public benefits from AI, but not at the scale Sanders proposes.

The proposal drew sharp criticism from some on the right as well. David Sacks, a former Trump administration AI adviser, called the legislation “a straight up confiscation of property” and said it would set “a terrible precedent,” according to coverage cited in the summary Sanders shared. The plan’s requirement to split AI and non-AI businesses could complicate holdings like Elon Musk’s xAI, which has already merged with X and SpaceX, and faces potential cross-company mergers referenced in reporting.

Sanders framed the proposal as a corrective to concentrated corporate power: "The benefits cannot simply go to the handful of wealthy corporations," he said, adding they "will be shared by the American people." He told AP News he plans to campaign on creating the fund and described smaller voluntary contributions from firms as inadequate compared with the one-time 50 percent tax he proposes.

Why it matters

The proposal treats AI-generated corporate value as public wealth and pushes for structural governance changes, not just ad hoc payments. If any part of this plan passed, it would force companies to re-evaluate ownership stakes, corporate structure, and how shareholder voting is allocated. The scale matters: Sanders’s $7 trillion estimate and the 50 percent stock tax would represent an unprecedented federal intervention in a single technology sector and shift revenue streams toward cash dividends and public programs.

This is also a political test. Sanders acknowledged he does not expect immediate passage in a Republican-controlled Congress, and opponents across the political spectrum characterized the bill as confiscatory or unrealistic. The debate reframes AI policy from safety and regulation to claims about wealth distribution, corporate governance, and public ownership.

What to watch

Watch for whether Sanders formally files the bill, the exact legislative text on the 50 percent stock tax and divestiture rules, and any GOP or White House response that could alter the commission’s design or the tax threshold. A concrete next signal will be Sanders’s campaign use of the proposal and any roll-out of detailed legislative language he makes public.