Sanders, Khanna Propose 5% Wealth Tax on 938 U.S. Billionaires to Raise $4.4T Over Decade

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna introduced the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act on Monday, proposing a 5% annual wealth tax on 938 U.S. billionaires with combined net worth of $8.2 trillion that could raise $4.4 trillion over 10 years, UC Berkeley economists estimate. The bill would fund a one-time $3,000 direct payment to individuals in households earning $150,000 or less, or $12,000 for a family of four, and finance expanded social programs including reversing Medicaid cuts, broadening Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing, building 7 million affordable homes, capping childcare costs at 7% of family income, and setting a $60,000 minimum teacher salary. Under the proposal, Elon Musk would owe $42 billion based on his $833 billion net worth, while Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos would each face $11 billion in taxes, and Sanders said "we cannot continue a trend in which $79 trillion in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90% to the top 1% over the past 50 years."