Bernie Sanders’ billionaire tax would soak about 900 people to fund $3,000 checks for the middle class | Fortune

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna introduced legislation proposing a 5% annual wealth tax on U.S. individuals with net worth of $1 billion or more, with first-year revenue funding a one-time $3,000 check for lower- and middle-income households earning $150,000 or less. It advances federal use of an annual wealth tax paired with direct cash payments and targeted spending as an explicit redistribution mechanism. The proposal would shift tax policy toward recurring taxation of accumulated wealth and create a new expectation of broadly distributed, tax-funded checks tied to wealth-tax revenue.

<p>Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna introduced the “Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act” on Monday. The bill proposes a 5% annual wealth tax on individuals with a net worth of $1 billion or more; Sanders estimated 938 billionaires in the U.S. with $8.2 trillion in collective wealth.</p><p>The bill directs first-year tax revenue to a one-time $3,000 check for every person living in a lower- or middle-income household, defined as earning $150,000 or less. Sanders stated that revenue in subsequent years would be directed to “the most pressing crises facing working families,” and estimated the plan would generate $4.4 trillion over a decade.</p><p>Sanders and Khanna said the funds would be used to reverse $1.1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act attributed to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, establish a minimum $60,000 salary for public school teachers, and cap parent childcare payments at 7% of household income. The piece notes the legislation faces steep odds with Republican control of the House and Senate.</p>