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posted by on Sunday February 19 2017, @05:49PM   Printer-friendly
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


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Sunday February 19 2017, @09:32PM

    by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Sunday February 19 2017, @09:32PM (#469083) Homepage Journal

    Have to disagree. We've just seen the political influence that we don't have used to elect Cheeto Jesus. Hillary was the candidate of big money and influence selling this time around. Not that I'm saying CJ won't sell influence. I'm just saying that we absolutely knew Hillary would and roughly to what extent while CJ was an unknown. [emphasis added]

    Actually, having seen Donny Hairboy in the news (both locally in NYC and nationally) over the last 35 years or so, I knew that His Orangeness wasn't a tool of the moneyed elites, he is part of the moneyed elites.

    As such, and I believe I mentioned this a few times here before the elections, he was never going to shake things up or "drain the swamp" or be the champion of the working man. His primary, secondary and tertiary constituencies are himself, Donald Trump and (I do like this one) Cheeto Jesus. Everyone and everything else is a distant fourth.

    Anyone who's actually been paying attention over the last thirty years would know that. Sadly, most folks attention span is less than ten minutes.

    As such, it's no surprise to me that he's filling his cabinet with others of the moneyed elite and pushing the agenda of the moneyed elite with at least as much gusto as HRC might have done. The downside being that he's a tyro and not a very bright one at that.

    I'm not going to argue about whether HRC is corrupt or not. Let's assume she's a shill for the corporate interests and cares about nothing but enriching herself. Even so, we *still* got the short end of the stick here since Donny boy is just as much about enriching himself and is completely out of his depth in pretty much every area of a President's responsibility.

    You don't need to believe what I say. Decide for yourself. Just watch this train wreck unfold before your eyes over the next four years, then ask the question "Am I better off than I was four years ago?"

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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  • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @10:08PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @10:08PM (#469088)

    most folks attention span is less than ten minutes.

    I was trying to figure out what demographic people are going for with "Donny Hairboy" and "Cheeto Jesus". I think your approach is misguided. To normal people who read stuff like that, they will just think that people who disagree with Trump are morons, thus supporting him more.

    • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Sunday February 19 2017, @10:42PM

      by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Sunday February 19 2017, @10:42PM (#469093) Homepage Journal

      most folks attention span is less than ten minutes.

      I was trying to figure out what demographic people are going for with "Donny Hairboy" and "Cheeto Jesus". I think your approach is misguided. To normal people who read stuff like that, they will just think that people who disagree with Trump are morons, thus supporting him more.

      I hadn't heard the Cheeto Jesus bit before and I included it because I find it amusing. As for Donny Hairboy, that one's not new. I believe I first heard it and then started using it at least twenty or twenty five years ago.

      I'm not really very interested in what folks (whether they agree or disagree with His Orangeness) think about me. If you don't like what I have to say, my username (NotSanguine) and uid (285) are at the top of each of my posts. Feel free to ignore me. I really don't mind.

      As for my "approach" being misguided? How do you draw that conclusion?

      In order for you to correctly draw that conclusion, you'd need to know what my goal(s) is(are) in writing my post.

      I don't believe that I mentioned any particular goal or end state in my post.

      I suspect you think that I'm attempting to garner support for my particular viewpoint. That's not my goal at all. In fact, I implied that when I said:

      You don't need to believe what I say. Decide for yourself. Just watch this train wreck unfold before your eyes over the next four years, then ask the question "Am I better off than I was four years ago?"

      The truth is that I don't have any particular "goal" WRT my post. As such, I don't have an "approach". I simply said what was on my mind. Take from it what you will, and thanks for sharing!

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @12:05AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @12:05AM (#469111)

        Its not about what people think about you, its that you seem to be sabatoging your own cause. Ive seen so much of it regarding Trump, which is why he got elected. Its just bizarre.

        • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday February 20 2017, @12:35AM

          by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Monday February 20 2017, @12:35AM (#469117) Homepage Journal

          Its not about what people think about you, its that you seem to be sabatoging your own cause. Ive seen so much of it regarding Trump, which is why he got elected. Its just bizarre.

          And what "cause" might that be, friend? I honestly have no idea what you're blathering on about.

          --
          No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @03:50AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @03:50AM (#469155)

            This is actually usual too, now you are feigning no interest in who is president (when you clearly care more than me). Why?

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 20 2017, @02:38AM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday February 20 2017, @02:38AM (#469141) Homepage Journal

      I just think it's a hilarious nickname.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.