Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) speaks to the media outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center on February 27, 2026, in Chappaqua, New York, U.S., on the day Bill Clinton appears in court for a House Oversight Committee deposition against the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Shannon Stapleton Reuter
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna plan to introduce a bill that would impose a federal wealth tax on billionaires, according to the senator’s office.
Sanders, R-Vermont, and Khanna, D-Calif., are pushing for a federal wealth tax as the idea of taxing billionaires gains prominence in Democratic states across the country. Progressives like Sanders have long called for higher taxes on the wealthy, but many Democrats are now experiencing new anti-billionaire hostility as they campaign against Republicans and President Donald Trump on affordability policies.
A ballot measure that could tax California’s billionaires is scaring some of the state’s wealthy and prompting some elites to flee. Khanna’s support for a California ballot measure that would impose a wealth tax on billionaires recently prompted some of the Silicon Valley lawmaker’s longtime tech supporters to threaten to end their support for him.
Sanders’ office said the planned tax increases would increase federal revenue by $4.4 trillion without raising taxes on Americans with a net worth of less than $1 billion. The proceeds will be invested for the benefit of working families, children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
Sanders recently traveled to California to explore potential ballot measures.
