AI Billionaires Craft Own Plans to Dodge Wealth-Tax Backlash
SkimNews Take
The effort by billionaires to shape AI policy reflects a proactive attempt to manage public perception and preempt regulatory intervention, rather than a purely altruistic response to societal shifts.
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- AI billionaires are developing their own policy prescriptions to defuse a populist revolt against AI-fueled wealth concentration, rejecting wealth taxes in favor of alternatives like shared abundance
- Jeff Bezos said on CNBC that the bottom 50% of earners should pay zero federal income tax, arguing that doubling his own taxes "is not going to help that teacher in Queens"
- Sam Altman favors "universal basic compute" — giving people access to AI's productive power rather than fixed cash — and OpenAI proposed a "New Deal-style social contract" in April including a public wealth fund, taxes on AI-driven returns, and a four-day workweek
- Elon Musk, whose SpaceX IPO could make him the world's first trillionaire, called for "universal HIGH INCOME" federal checks, arguing robot-driven growth will prevent inflation
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned in January that billionaires should support higher taxes on AI wealth or face "a bad version designed by a mob"; the OpenAI Foundation committed $250 million to help workers weather AI disruption
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for overhauling the tax code with new taxes on wealth and data centers, while California unions gathered more than 1.5 million signatures for a November ballot measure imposing a one-time 5% billionaire wealth tax
- NYC lawmakers passed Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes above $5 million, and Gov. Newsom — who opposes the California measure — warned "the pitchforks are here, they're not just coming"
Why it matters: Anti-billionaire politics is becoming an organizing principle for the Democratic Party ahead of 2026 and 2028, with California unions already 1.5 million signatures deep toward a November wealth-tax ballot measure and Sen. Warren pushing new taxes on AI wealth and data centers. The tech billionaires' preemptive alternative plans signal they're trying to define the terms of a debate Newsom says will dominate both election cycles.
