Artificial intelligence becomes ripe target for taxes
Source: Roll Call
Posted June 29, 2026 at 6:29am
Some progressives are floating various plans to spread the wealth of the AI boom in the run-up to the midterm elections this fall, with proposals ranging from taxes on AI tokens to an excise tax on the energy used by data centers. But other stakeholders are urging a more cautious approach, and artificial intelligence companies themselves are seeking to weigh in.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., proposed an excise tax on data center energy usage in a Time op-ed column last month, where she also pitched wealth tax and corporate minimum tax proposals as ways to address the economic disparities caused by AI. “Here’s what I see clearly: if we overhaul our tax code and tax AI, we can use that money to build a country that works for everyone,” Warren wrote. “A country where health care is treated as a human right, where every American is guaranteed a good job, and where education isn’t a privilege reserved for the wealthy. That’s what I believe taxing AI promises.”
Democratic Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is calling for a tax levied against tokens, which are the units of data processed by an AI model. Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Michigan has also called for such a tax on commercial uses of AI to fund apprenticeship programs. And Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, is also interested in taxing tech companies to create a wage-security program for employees whose jobs are cut due to AI, according to an aide.
Some in the tech sector are also backing a new tax on the technology. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, for example, wrote in January that he sees a need for policy action to address the economic inequalities spurred by AI. Amodei said the “extreme levels of inequality” he predicts could arise as a result of AI “justify a more robust tax policy on basic moral grounds.”
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2026/06/29/artificial-intelligence-becomes-ripe-target-for-taxes/
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