Bill Gates Supports Robot Taxation When Used To Replace Jobs

Scientists have declared automation as being the biggest threat to jobs in the future. With research into smarter artificial intelligence and more efficient machines progressing smoothly, it’s expected that millions will lose their current means of living in the coming years. Bill Gates recently spoke about the issue and according to him, if the robots really are coming to steal jobs, then they should be taxed accordingly.

The Microsoft Founder recently spoke to Quartz and said that any company who uses robots to replace most, if not all of their workers should be given additional taxes. According to Gates, this could be a good way to slow the progression of the spread of automation as well as help set up other employment options for those who have been displaced by automation.

“Certainly there will be taxes that relate to automation,” Gates says. “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. If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you’d think that we’d tax the robot at a similar level.”

This would make economic sense in many ways, Futurism reports, largely due to how much companies would save on the efficiency with which the robots would work. Without needing to pay dozens, if not hundreds of workers while still getting the same amount of work done, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for a company to pay a little extra in taxes just to balance things out a bit.

Gates isn’t the first to come up with the idea of additional taxes for the use of robots either. EU lawmakers already proposed a similar resolution before, but it failed to meet approval. Another solution being considered is Universal Basic Income, which is actually gaining traction.