Sanders Proposes Sovereign Wealth Fund Financed by One-Time Stock Tax on Major AI Companies

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposed that the federal government take a 50% stake in artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, to be held in a newly created sovereign wealth fund that would benefit the public. Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist,” said he would introduce specific legislation in the next few weeks to impose a one-time major tax on the companies to be paid in stock rather than cash.

He provided broad details about his vision for the plan in a New York Times op-ed on Monday morning. ” He contended that as the technology, which he considers the “most transformational technology in the history of the world,” continues to proliferate, the public should be able to benefit financially from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI.

The plan “would create a sovereign wealth fund through a one-time 50 percent tax — not on the profits of OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and other companies, but paid with something far more valuable than that: the stock,” Sanders wrote of the proposal.

” “The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them,” Sanders said. A second incentive for creating such a fund would be to provide taxpayers with the financial benefits of the AI boom.

Sanders indicated that such benefits under his plan would come in the form of financial disbursements.

“To start, the billions, if not trillions, of dollars generated by this fund would provide direct payments to the American people,” Sanders said. ” Sanders noted that figures at OpenAI and Anthropic have themselves floated the idea of wealth funds with AI profits. Sanders’s op-ed links a proposal that would have AI firms paying a new tax in stock rather than cash.

The Washington Examiner asked OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI for comment about the Sanders proposal and to Sanders’s office about further details of the tax aspect of the plan. It will undoubtedly be closely scrutinized by AI evangelists and lawmakers.

“But the principle is simple: When a public resource generates wealth, the public should share in that wealth,” Sanders said. I.