Sanders, Khanna to propose federal billionaires wealth tax

California billionaires are already concerned about by a state-level wealth tax being proposed in the Golden State.

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna plan to introduce a bill to impose a federal wealth tax on billionaires, according to the senator's office.

The push from Sanders, I-Vt., and Khanna, D-Calif., for a federal wealth tax comes as the idea of taxing billionaires gains cachet in Democratic states across the country. While progressives like Sanders have long called for taxing the rich at higher rates, many Democrats are now seizing on refreshed anti-billionaire animus as they campaign against Republicans and President Donald Trump on an affordability agenda.

A potential California ballot measure to tax billionaires in the state has spooked some of the state's wealthy and prompted some of its elites to flee. Khanna's support for the proposed California ballot measure to impose a wealth tax on billionaires recently caused some of the Silicon Valley representative's longtime tech supporters to threaten to drop their support of him.