Sen. Bernie Sanders to headline LA rally for billionaires tax proposal

A proposed wealth tax on billionaires to help prop up California’s health care system would only apply to residents of the Golden State. Yet it’s caught the attention of at least one U.S. senator from across the country.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont plans to show his support of the possible ballot initiative at a rally at The Wiltern theater in Koreatown on Wednesday, Feb. 18, part of a multi-day tour through California.

Related: California’s politicians and ultra-wealthy are divided over a proposed billionaire tax

Aside from headlining the rally, Sanders is also slated to meet next week with leaders from the artificial intelligence industry to discuss the future of AI and “its impacts on American workers and the economy,” according to an advisory from Sanders’ campaign. And on Friday, Sanders is scheduled to appear at a town hall in the Bay Area with Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from Silicon Valley, to discuss the future of AI.

In Los Angeles, Sanders will headline the campaign kickoff for the proposed billionaire tax initiative, which supporters hope to gather enough voter signatures to get on the November statewide ballot.

“Do we think that it is appropriate … that 1% of the population owns more wealth than the bottom 93%” in the U.S., Sanders asked during a call with reporters ahead of his trip.

“I am not only supportive of what they’re trying to do in California, but we are going to introduce a wealth tax for the whole country. We have got to deal with the greed, the extraordinary greed, of the billionaire class,” the progressive former presidential candidate said.

The proposed ballot initiative in California is spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.

Proponents said a one-time wealth tax of up to 5% on individuals and trusts with assets worth more than $1 billion would help backfill federal funding cuts to health care under the Trump administration.

The tax would generate $100 billion for the state and save California’s health care system from collapsing by keeping hospital emergency rooms, clinics, nursing homes and other health care facilities open; keeping health care workers employed; and stabilizing health insurance coverage and premiums for Californians, supporters of the proposal have said.

The proposed initiative said the tax would apply to billionaires whose residence was in California as of Jan. 1 of this year.

Even though that date has passed, opponents of the initiative, which include Gov. Gavin Newsom, remain concerned that such a tax would drive the wealthiest to move out of state, including entrepreneurs who have helped make California a leader in innovation and provided hundreds of thousands of jobs here.

And they fear that such negative impacts would be long-term.

Besides showing his support for the proposed billionaire tax, Sanders plans to meet with AI leaders in California next week.

He declined, during his call with reporters, to specify who exactly he’ll meet with, saying only that he would be speaking with “a number of CEOs and officials at some of the major AI companies.”

Those meetings, which Sanders said would be private, would be in addition to the town hall at Stanford University with Khanna.

Sanders said that after his trip to California, he plans to introduce legislation calling for a moratorium on new data centers that the AI companies rely on until the government has a chance to develop regulations on the industry.

The senator has repeatedly raised concerns that AI could result in the loss of millions of jobs, including for the working-class, and is worried that young people are turning to AI for emotional support instead of forming relationships with real people.

Sanders also said that he wants to slow down the lightning-speed development of AI to ensure the technology doesn’t just enrich the wealthiest further, but rather it would ultimately benefit society.