US lawmakers propose AI tax and government equity stake to fund public wealth

U.S. policymakers are debating ways to tax large artificial‑intelligence firms and give the government a direct equity interest in them. President Donald Trump said he will meet technology leaders to discuss their “contribution to the public good,” while Senator Bernie Sanders introduced legislation for a single tax on major AI companies that would channel half of the proceeds into a sovereign‑wealth‑style fund for the public.

The debate follows the recent high‑profile IPOs of AI‑related firms: SpaceX’s merger with xAI entered the market at a $1.77 trillion valuation, Anthropic filed a confidential IPO request after a funding round that valued it at $900 billion, and OpenAI’s filing valued it at $730 billion. Proponents argue that government stakes would capture a share of future profits as AI increasingly automates work and could erode traditional wage taxes.