Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna on Monday introduced federal legislation that would impose a 5 percent annual wealth tax on individuals in the United States whose net worth exceeds $1 billion. The proposal, titled the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, would affect an estimated 938 people nationwide and is projected to raise approximately $4.4 trillion over the next decade.
According to Sanders’s office, the tax would apply only to billionaires and would not increase taxes on anyone with a net worth below that threshold. Khanna and Sanders emphasized that “no one who has a net worth of less than $1 billion would pay a penny more in taxes under this bill.”
Sanders framed the legislation as a response to widening inequality and long term shifts in wealth concentration. “We can no longer tolerate a corrupt tax code that enables billionaires to pay a lower tax rate than the average worker,” said Sanders (I-Vt.) “In a democratic society, we cannot tolerate 60 percent of our people living paycheck to paycheck—struggling to pay for housing, food, and healthcare—while 938 billionaires have become $1.5 trillion richer. We cannot continue a trend in which, over the past 50 years, $79 trillion in wealth in our country has been redistributed from the bottom 90 percent to the top 1 percent. Enough is enough. Billionaires cannot have it all.”
The lawmakers estimate that the 938 billionaires who would be subject to the tax hold a collective net worth of $8.2 trillion. Sanders’s office cited independent analysis from economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman at the University of California, Berkeley. In a news release, the lawmakers said the economists estimate that “the legislation would raise $4.4tn over the next decade.” In a separate statement, Saez and Zucman wrote that the bill “would raise approximately $4.4 trillion over a decade and close the gap between wealth growth for billionaires and income growth for the average American family that has existed since the early 1980s.”
The economists described the broader economic context in stark terms. “Democracies become oligarchies when wealth becomes too concentrated,” said the economists. “The U.S. has now reached an unprecedented level of top wealth concentration. U.S. billionaire wealth has exploded in recent years, more than doubling since 2019. A billionaire wealth tax is the most direct policy tool to curb the growing concentration of wealth among the billionaire class in the United States.”
They added, “Combining top wealth taxation with policies to rebuild middle class economic security,” said Saez and Zucman, “is what the United States needs to ensure vibrant and equitable growth for the future.”
Data cited by Americans for Tax Fairness indicates that billionaire wealth increased by about 20 percent in 2025. Sanders and Khanna argue that the scale and pace of wealth growth at the top stand in contrast to economic pressures faced by many households.
To illustrate how the bill would apply in practice, Sanders’s office highlighted several high profile billionaires. Tesla CEO and President Donald Trump ally Elon Musk, whose net worth the lawmakers estimate at $833 billion, would owe $42 billion in taxes under the proposal, “leaving him with approximately $792bn.” According to the lawmakers, Musk’s wealth makes him richer than the bottom 53 percent of U.S. households.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whom they estimate is worth $220bn, would owe $11bn, they said, while Jeff Bezos, valued at $218bn, would owe approximately $11bn.
Revenue generated under the proposal would be directed toward a range of federal programs. In its first year, the bill would provide a $3,000 direct payment to every man, woman and child in a household making $150,000 or less, amounting to $12,000 for a family of four. According to the press release, “In its first year, the bill would provide a $3,000 direct payment to every man, woman and child in a household making $150,000 or less—$12,000 for a family of four—and use the estimated $4.4tn in revenue raised over the next decade to address the most pressing crises facing working families.”
The lawmakers also said that revenue would be used to reverse $1.1 trillion in Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cuts included in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which are estimated to cause more than 50,000 unnecessary deaths. Additional proposed uses include expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing care; building, rehabilitating, and preserving over 7 million affordable homes; ensuring that no family pays more than 7 percent of its income on childcare; establishing a $60,000 minimum annual salary for every public school teacher in America; and expanding Medicaid home health care for seniors and people with disabilities.
Khanna described the legislation as a response to economic disparities across regions and industries. “We have a deep economic divide in this country. On one side, places like Silicon Valley are generating extreme wealth. On the other side, families are struggling to cover the cost of healthcare, housing, and basic needs,” said Khanna. “We can tax billionaires a modest amount to make sure everyone has a fair chance while keeping our innovative engine. That is why I am proud to join Sen. Bernie Sanders to lead the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act.”
The political path forward remains uncertain. With Republicans currently controlling Congress, the measure is unlikely to advance in the near term. However, reporting by the Washington Post indicates that the proposal could shape the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential primary and potentially serve as a litmus test for candidates. Khanna has been mentioned as a possible contender.
In California, a related debate is unfolding over a proposed ballot measure that would impose a one time tax equal to 5% of an individual’s assets on residents whose net worth exceeds $1.1 billion. Supporters must gather nearly 900,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he opposes the wealth tax and will “fight” it if it advances. His spokesperson previously told the Guardian that Newsom believes that “if implemented at a state-only level they drive a race to the bottom”.
Sanders framed the federal proposal as part of a broader effort to reshape the tax code. “At a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality,” he said, “this legislation demands that the billionaire class in America finally pay their fair share of taxes so that we can create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.”
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