Sanders proposes U.S. wealth fund backed by AI company tax
Sanders wants a 50% stock tax on the largest AI firms to seed a fund he says could be worth $7 trillion and pay Americans directly.
The fight over AI wealth is shifting from theory to legislation. Bernie Sanders is preparing to introduce the American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, a plan that would use a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the largest AI companies to create a public fund that Sanders says should benefit ordinary Americans, not only corporate owners.
Under the proposal, the tax would hit AI companies once they reach $200 million in annual AI sales, and any new company that crosses that threshold would also be covered. Sanders estimates the fund could be worth about $7 trillion, a scale that would make it one of the most ambitious attempts yet to turn private technology gains into a public asset. The bill summary says a seven-person independent commission, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, would oversee the fund and use voting shares to block decisions that hurt the American people while pushing for policies that help them.
The political significance goes beyond Sanders. President Donald Trump and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have both shown interest in some form of public ownership stake in AI companies, a sign that the idea is moving into the mainstream of Washington policy debates. Altman first pitched the concept directly to Trump in early 2025 and has discussed it periodically with administration officials since then. Trump has said he expects top AI companies to agree to “giving back” to the public and has suggested that pieces could be given to the American public so the public becomes a partner.
OpenAI has already put versions of the idea in writing. In its January 2025 Economic Blueprint, the company said it wanted to extend America’s global leadership in AI innovation and ensure equitable access to AI. In its April 2026 policy paper, Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age, OpenAI called for a Public Wealth Fund that would give every citizen, including those not invested in financial markets, a stake in AI-driven growth. The company described that approach as a way to expand opportunity, share prosperity and build resilient institutions as advanced intelligence evolves.
The closest historical model is Alaska’s Permanent Fund, created after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1976 and followed by dividend legislation in 1980. Alaska turned oil wealth into annual cash payments, with the 2025 dividend set at $1,000. Sanders’s plan borrows that logic but applies it to equity in the AI economy rather than a natural resource under the ground.
The timing is also telling. The administration has already taken stakes in companies in other strategic sectors, including Intel, IBM and parts of the quantum and critical minerals industries. At the same time, OpenAI and Anthropic are preparing for blockbuster IPOs, which raises the stakes for investors, regulators and policymakers deciding who should own the gains from the next industrial revolution.
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