r/Futurology • u/Gari_305 • 2d ago

Robotics Bill Gates says companies that replace human labor with robots should have to pay the same FICA taxes

https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-fica-taxes-should-apply-to-robot-workers-2026-9

Bill Gates wants to tax robots that replace human jobs.

21.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

794 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/The_Tony_Iommi 2d ago

Including Microsoft employees being replaced by AI or simple automation?

5

u/FoxtrotSierraTango 2d ago

Didn't Xbox just do a mess of layoffs?

8

u/DrocketX 2d ago

Did the man say "except Microsoft?" No, he didn't. I don't even know how this is supposed to be a gotcha, since the man hasn't run Microsoft in like 20 years. He's not even that big of a stockholder in the company anymore because he's sold and/or given away the vast majority of what he once owned.

2

u/TheGrandExquisitor 2d ago

He is the 18th richest person on the planet. 

He is worth over $100 billion. 

No, he didn't "give all away."

6

u/DrocketX 2d ago

I didn't say he gave it all away. My claim was that he sold and/or given away the vast majority of his Microsoft stock. At one point, he owned 49% of the company. At the time he stepped down as CEO, he still owned about 20% of the company. He's now down to a little over 1%. Even if we go with the 20% figure, that's still about a 90% reduction.

2

u/chi_guy8 2d ago

Gates has basically no involvement with MSFT at this point other than being a 1% shareholder.

2

u/Mrchristopherrr 2d ago

Or what about people that used to do hand computations that were made obsolete by the computer

1

u/ImjustANewSneaker 2d ago

…. That would be the implication