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Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna just introduced a bill that would tax America's 938 billionaires at 5% of their net worth annually. If it passes, 60 million households making under $150K would get a $3,000 check in the mail.

The "Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act" targets the wealthiest slice of the country — people with a collective net worth of $8.2 trillion. That's not income. That's total wealth.

The tax would raise $4.4 trillion over the next decade. Here's where that money goes:

What the Bill Actually Does

Direct payments: $3,000 per person in households earning $150K or less. Family of four? That's $12,000.

Medicaid restoration: The bill reverses $1.1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the ACA.

Medicare expansion: Adds dental, vision, and hearing coverage for millions of seniors.

Other spending: Affordable housing, capping childcare at 7% of income, $60K minimum salary for public school teachers.

Why CPAs Should Care

If you work with high-net-worth clients, this bill signals where the Democratic Party is headed on wealth taxation. It won't pass now — Republicans control Congress — but it's a preview of what's coming if Democrats retake power.

Wealth taxes are notoriously hard to enforce. Unlike income, net worth includes assets without clear market values: private companies, art, real estate, illiquid investments. The IRS would need an army of auditors to value billionaire portfolios annually.

France's wealth tax started on billionaires, then dropped to $1.3 million. If this passes in any form, expect the threshold to creep down.

What This Means for Your Practice

Your HNW clients will ask about this. The answer: it's not happening now, but the risk is real if Democrats sweep in 2028. The smart play is proactive wealth planning — trusts, charitable vehicles, estate structures — that reduce exposure before any wealth tax passes.

For now, it's a bill with zero chance of becoming law. But it's a signal. And signals matter when you're planning for clients with 10- or 20-year horizons.