Who would benefit from Bernie Sanders’ wealth tax on billionaires?

(NewsNation) — Lawmakers have introduced a bill that would establish a 5 percent annual wealth tax on billionaires and redistribute the money to “the most vulnerable” Americans over the next decade, according to the bill’s sponsors.

The Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), would apply to the 938 billionaires nationwide who collectively own $8.2 trillion in wealth, with the lawmakers estimating it would raise $4.4 trillion over the next decade.

That money would then be used to “substantially improve the lives of the American people and address some of the major crises facing working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the most vulnerable,” the bill summary states.

Where would the money go?

Specifically, the legislation would redistribute the $4.4 trillion to provide $3,000 direct payments in its first year of enactment to every person in a household earning less than $150,000 annually.

The money would also be used to reverse the $1.1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act made by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and expand Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing care for millions of senior citizens.

Additionally, the money would be used to ensure that no family pays more than 7% of household income on child care and toward establishing a minimum annual salary of $60,000 for all public school teachers nationwide. It would also be used to create over 7 million affordable housing units over the next decade.

5 percent tax on California’s billionaires

Sanders’ and Khanna’s tax bill would build upon proposed legislation in California that would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on Golden State residents worth more than $1 billion, including on assets held in stocks or private companies.

A March poll from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies found that the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act is popular among registered California voters, with 52 percent supporting it and 33 percent opposing it. Backed by a health care labor union, the tax would apply to anyone considered a resident in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026.

Six billionaires left California before Jan. 1 to avoid the cutoff date, Fortune reported.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel have moved to Miami, according to the outlet. Hankey Group founder Don Hankey has left for Las Vegas, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick moved to Texas and director Steven Spielberg moved to New York City.

Fortune estimates the one time 5 percent tax on those six would have generated $27 billion in revenue.

Supporters had said the proposal could raise up to $100 billion for health care, food assistance and education in California. However, the exodus of the six billionaires removes an estimated quarter of that amount.

The Hill and NewsNation’s Ryan Bass and Taylor Delandro contributed to this report.

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