A new Senate report warns that artificial intelligence could displace nearly 100 million American jobs within the next decade—prompting Democrats to float a new tax aimed at companies daring to embrace innovation.

The report, drafted by Democratic staffers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee under the guidance of democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), analyzes how AI and automation could impact the U.S. workforce. The findings? Grim, if you’re working in sectors like fast food or logistics. The proposed solution? More taxes, naturally.

Using input from AI tools like ChatGPT, the report reviewed 20 major industries and concluded that 15 could see over half their jobs wiped out by automation. Leading the list of endangered jobs: fast food and counter workers. The report estimates that 3 million of those roles—about 89% of the workforce—could be replaced by machines.

Other vulnerable sectors include customer service reps, freight and material handlers, and executive assistants, all with automation risk levels topping 80%.

But instead of encouraging market adaptation, entrepreneurship, or deregulation to stimulate new job creation, Sanders and his team are proposing a so-called “robot tax”. The idea? If a business replaces a human with a machine, they’ll be taxed to “recoup” lost payroll revenue and fund government-run retraining programs.

Sanders insists this tax is about fairness, not punishment. “We are at an economic crossroads,” he claims. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has also entertained the concept, suggesting that companies benefiting from automation should “pay their fair share.” That phrase sound familiar?

But the proposals don’t stop at new taxes. The Senate report also promotes a sweeping labor agenda: a government-mandated 32-hour workweek, a $17 federal minimum wage, expanded overtime rules, and “worker equity stakes” in industries that adopt automation. In other words, Big Labor meets Big Tech—with taxpayers stuck holding the bag.

While the report concedes that the impact of AI is “not predetermined,” it frames the future as one shaped by Washington lawmakers—not innovators, not businesses, and certainly not the free market.

In a Monday op-ed for Fox News Digital, Sanders warned that automation, if left unchecked, could “dehumanize” the economy by putting profit before people. “We need a world where people live healthier, happier, more fulfilling lives — not one where machines make all the money,” he wrote.

But critics argue that stifling innovation through taxation and federal mandates won’t protect jobs—it’ll just drive businesses overseas, kill competition, and punish success. Instead of fearing automation, why not embrace it with smart deregulation and pro-growth policies?

Because when government tries to save the economy from progress, it usually ends up making things worse.