If AI takes the jobs, tax the tokens: US bill proposes a robot tax for mass unemployment

A House bill would put an excise tax on large AI companies and raise the rate automatically if unemployment climbs, with the money going to create jobs in areas from housing construction and infrastructure to child and elder care, Fortune reported on 1 September 2026. Introduced by Representatives Sara Jacobs, Greg Casar and Valerie Foushee, it would tax either the value of the tokens a company's models process or its revenue from AI services, whichever raises more. The rates start at 2% and 3% respectively while unemployment is 5% or lower, and rise from there. "If AI profits off human work, workers deserve job security and a share of those profits," Jacobs said. It joins a crowded field. Senator Ron Wyden has proposed a new excise tax tied to AI data centres, Senator Elizabeth Warren a tax based partly on the energy they consume, and Senator Bernie Sanders a one-time 50% levy on OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI that would give Americans shares in those companies. A bipartisan Senate bill, the AI Workforce PREPARE Act, would instead require better federal tracking of layoffs in which AI is a substantial factor. None of the sponsors of the tax proposals responded to Fortune's requests for comment, and neither did OpenAI or Anthropic.