If AI leads to unemployment, a group of lawmakers wants AI companies to help pay the bill. A new House proposal would impose an excise tax on major AI companies and automatically increase the rate if unemployment rises, with the proceeds directed toward job creation in areas including housing construction, infrastructure, child care, and elder care.

“If Congress does nothing, the rise of AI could create the biggest wealth transfer in history from the bottom to the top,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) in a joint press release announcing the bill. “If AI profits off human work, workers deserve job security and a share of those profits.”

Introduced by Jacobs along with Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.) earlier this month, the bill proposes a two-part tax structure: lawmakers would either tax the value of tokens — the small data units AI models use to interpret information — or tax revenue from AI services and certain transactions with affiliated companies, whichever produces the higher amount. The rates would start at 2% and 3% when unemployment is 5% or less, then rise as unemployment increases, tying the proposal directly to the labor market conditions it is meant to address.

Congress pushes to rein in AI companies

The measure is the latest in a broader effort in Congress to address potential job displacement tied to AI, as lawmakers increasingly look for ways to measure, tax, or offset the effects of automation before they show up in employment data.

Foushee and Casar previously introduced legislation directing the Government Accountability Office to study jobs created, lost, or changed by AI, while Jacobs co-introduced another bill requiring large employers and federal agencies to disclose AI-related layoffs to the Department of Labor.

In the Senate, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has proposed changing the tax treatment of AI data centers and creating a new excise tax, with part of the revenue used to support workers displaced by the technology. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has called for taxing AI companies partly based on the energy their data centers consume and investing the proceeds in workers.

Most notably, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) warned that AI could eliminate tens of millions of jobs and introduced the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act. The proposal would impose a one-time 50% tax on OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, and give Americans a portion of those companies through shares.

Even lawmakers who are not proposing direct taxes on AI companies are preparing for labor disruption. Sens. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Jon Husted (R-Ohio) introduced the bipartisan AI Workforce PREPARE Act, which would require better federal tracking of layoffs in which AI is a substantial factor, improve Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts for automation-affected occupations, and study a rapid retraining program for workers displaced by AI.

Another approach is to encourage companies to help workers adjust. Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) proposed a tax credit covering 30% of qualified AI-training expenses, up to $2,500 per employee each year, for companies that retrain workers in areas such as machine learning, prompt engineering, and AI ethics.

Casar, Foushee, Jacobs, Wyden, Warren, and Sanders did not respond to Fortune’s requests for comment. OpenAI and Anthropic also did not respond to questions about whether they support the proposed AI taxes or public-ownership mechanisms.

Tech leaders also worry about AI job losses

Concerns about displacement are also being raised by leaders in the technology sector, underscoring that the debate is not limited to Capitol Hill.

Bill Gates recently called for a tax on AI tokens and robots to rebalance the tax system, which he said currently “nudges you toward replacing people with machines.” He warned that “many jobs will disappear forever” and said the federal government would need a way to raise revenue if fewer people are working and paying income taxes.

Gabriel Weinberg, founder of search company DuckDuckGo, which is investing in AI features, said his company would be willing to pay a 10% tax on AI token usage.

Executives at companies building AI systems have also acknowledged the possibility of large-scale displacement, which could force governments to consider ways to distribute the gains from AI.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said AI-driven unemployment could require new sources of tax revenue and mechanisms for equity sharing, and suggested that the federal government could impose a 3% tax on revenue generated from model usage that would be “redistributed in some way.” Although it was not in his economic interest, he said it was a “reasonable solution to the problem.”

OpenAI’s Sam Altman met with Sanders in June to discuss a public stake in his company so Americans could benefit from the financial windfall of the AI boom. Altman also agreed with Sanders that the public should have a stake in AI companies.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com