Bernie Sanders has a creative idea: to tax AI profits for the benefit of the American people, sending each taxpayer at least $1,000 a year as their share of the dividend. It’s an interesting thought, and I’d like to hear more of the details.
The idea of taxing the ultra-rich has long had a certain appeal, and it’s fascinating to watch its progress through the American mind. In California, of course, it looks like we’ll have the opportunity to vote on the so-called billionaires’ tax in November. The billionaires’ tax is sponsored by SEIU, the union that suffered a major defeat earlier this month when its proposal for Measure E was decisively rejected by the voters—the biggest defeat for SEIU in many years, and (we can only hope) the first of many such to come
No less than Gov. Newsom has come out strongly against the billionaires’ tax, in addition to many groups you might think would support it. I, personally, haven’t yet taken a position. It’s not clear to me that taxing the rich would not backfire on us. But Sen. Sanders’ AI tax is intriguing.
His proposal is sweeping, revolutionary and perhaps not Constitutional. He would seize ownership of the biggest AI companies, demanding that their tradeable stock be transferred to the American people under a “sovereign wealth fund,” such as that which controls Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth. As controversial as that is, the proposal is even more problematic in calling for a “seven-person independent commission” to run it, nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. I can’t imagine any such commission ever coming into existence with a huge, ugly political fight, the outcome of which will probably leave no one content. But let’s put that aside for now and just focus on the legislation’s content.
Sanders estimates that the sovereign wealth fund would be worth $7 trillion. Take that amount as the principle, and a 5% annual dividend based upon it would give each American $1,000 a year. I surely could use an additional grand a year to help me pay for everything that’s grown outrageously expensive under the Trump inflation. On the other hand, if I’m being honest, I have to ask myself how I could justify taking money from rich people and giving it to people like me? I detest the communistic practice of “democratic socialists” like we have in Oakland, where they routinely abuse their power to steal money from us (through ill-considered parcel and other taxes). So why should it be any different if the government steals money from rich people? Theft is theft.
And yet there’s a huge difference between me—I live exceptionally frugally—and a mega-billionaire like Sam Altman or Larry Ellison or Elon Musk. What I live on annually amounts to chump change for them. So what if Larry Ellison can’t afford to buy another $500 million yacht, in addition to the ones he already owns? What’s that to me?
You can see that emotions cloud these sort of decisions. We Americans have always had a resentment of the wealthy. We’re constantly told that we live in the greatest country in the world, one where anyone can succeed if only they work hard enough. And yet we know that’s not true. There’s an old saying: “Life is a shit sandwich. The more bread you have, the less shit you have to eat.” If there had ever been any doubt of the unfairness of the U.S. system of wealth-gathering, watching this new Gilded Age of capitalism, presided over by Donald Trump and featuring a bunch of goose-stepping preeners, would be enough to convince us we need new, stronger guardrails to protect us from domination by the rich. So a good part of me is inclined to support Sanders’ AI takeover. Musk is already a trillionaire. Can’t he now afford to pay a little more in taxes?
This is one point where I differ strongly with Republicans. They never saw a tax they could support. This is why Republicans are perceived as the party of the rich. It’s also why so many of us wonder why so many middle- and lower-class Americans vote Republican. It’s insane to see a political party trample on the health and welfare of so many Americans, only to have those same Americans repeatedly vote them into office. For that, I blame the baleful influence of far-right Christian radicals, who threaten their flocks that they’ll go to hell if they vote for Democrats. What a choice for the poor, evangelical Republican! Either burn in hell for eternity, or vote for MAGA greed heads who couldn’t care less for working-class Americans.
Well, fortunately, I don’t have to make that choice, since I’m not a Republican. But should we take Sanders’ advice and take over AI?
I can’t imagine the chaos that would cause. Every lower court in America would be jammed with lawyers and defendants. Everything would eventually make its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which under its current makeup would probably strike down the Sanders legislation as unconstitutional. But is it worth a try anyway? It’s certainly a good conversation for us to have at this point. Everybody’s worried about AI taking over society, but so far no one has discussed the trillions of dollars that AI is going to make for someone. That’s a lot of money. Surely we can at least give a little thought to reimagining how we run our stock market when it comes to something as big, wealthy and life-altering as artificial intelligence. I’d love to hear your views on whether or not this Sanders proposal is wise or foolish.
Steve Heimoff