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from the robots-are-not-covered-by-the-sixteenth-amendment dept.
Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and world's richest man, said in an interview Friday that robots that steal human jobs should pay their fair share of taxes.
"Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, Social Security tax, all those things," he said. "If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you'd think that we'd tax the robot at a similar level."
Gates made the remark during an interview with Quartz. He said robot taxes could help fund projects like caring for the elderly or working with children in school. Quartz reported that European Union lawmakers considered a proposal to tax robots in the past. The law was rejected.
Recode, citing a McKinsey report, said that 50 percent of jobs performed by humans are vulnerable to robots, which could result in the loss of about $2.7 trillion in the U.S. alone.
"Exactly how you'd do it, measure it, you know, it's interesting for people to start talking about now," Gates said. "Some of it can come on the profits that are generated by the labor-saving efficiency there. Some of it can come directly in some type of robot tax. I don't think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax. It's OK."
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/02/18/robots-that-steal-human-jobs-should-pay-taxes-gates-says.html
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday February 19 2017, @08:51PM
Robots that 'steal' jobs should drive prices down. A tax would just be passed down to us.
Exactly.
But the driving down of prices isn't a sure thing in all markets, and without jobs perhaps nobody could afford to pay even the lower prices. (In before the UBI crowd: It Can't Work)
I'm not so much worried about replacing workers with robots, because there are really so few actual applications. And they only work in well established industries - where the work is well defined and long since standardized. Human workers would out compete them in innovative industries in a changing world. That robot won't hang your solar panels or build your new custom house or install your electric car charging station.
Any productivity that results from those industries where robots do fit in would helps the country compete in the world market.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday February 20 2017, @05:48AM
As a UBI advocate, I would be interested in any sound arguments explaining why it wouldn't work.
UBI should cover basics. If you want to keep up with the Jones', you would need to find a job.
If you get bored, you would have to argue on the internet all day, volunteer, or again. find a job.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday February 20 2017, @06:23PM
Or, with a Universal Basic Income, one could actually have time to create their on job.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday February 20 2017, @06:26PM
...own job...
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday February 20 2017, @06:33PM
Yes, I forgot to mention that option.