03/25/2026
938 people would pay more. 130 million families could receive up to $12,000.
Bernie Sanders says that is what fairness looks like.
On March 2, 2026, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna introduced the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act. The proposal would place a 5 percent annual tax on Americans with a net worth above $1 billion.
It would impact just 938 individuals and is projected to generate about $4.4 trillion over the next decade, based on estimates from UC Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.
In its first year, the plan would provide $3,000 per person to households earning under $150,000, or $12,000 for a family of four. The remaining funds would be used to restore $1.1 trillion in healthcare cuts, expand Medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing, limit childcare costs to 7 percent of income, and establish a $60,000 minimum salary for public school teachers.
The bill is unlikely to pass in the current Republican-controlled Congress. Critics argue it could harm the economy and point to past proposals in places like California that led some billionaires to relocate. Sanders maintains that when wealth becomes too concentrated, democracy itself is at risk.