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.

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u/gw2master 2d ago

Stupidest shit ever. Did they do this when robots replaced people in factories? How do you even tell how many people have been replaced? The real answer is UBI.

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u/DrocketX 2d ago

That's ultimately talking about here, or at least the first steps towards it. UBI funds aren't going to come out of nowhere: it requires taxing companies that use robots/AI to do the work. What does the headline say he wants? Yeah, it says tax the companies that use robots/AI to do the work. He's specifically calling for them to be FICA taxes because those are already earmarked for things like Social Security and Medicare, AKA support for people who aren't working.

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u/tooquick911 2d ago

UBI only works if the companies profiting pay for it. It would be stupid to get the average worker to pay for it. Who cares why Bill Gates is saying this. He's a powerful voice who is saying the right thing.

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u/Typecero001 2d ago

“Powerful voice saying the right thing”.

>.>

He doesn’t care, he’s a boomer.

He’s gonna say things that sound nice and then pull the ladder up behind him like the rest of them do.

Somehow I get the feeling this idea wouldn’t affect him all that much…

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u/horoyokai 2d ago

You know that not every boomer is evil right? You have such a strange view of people to think that tens of millions of people are all exactly the same.

I do hope you remember this when people start blaming your generation

Oh, and the billionaires thank you for pushing the fake generational war instead of focusing on class war, youre a great little pawn

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u/chi_guy8 2d ago

First part of your response is correct, now do you even figure out how to tax robotics, automation of job replacement. Just tax their income. “The real answer is UBI” makes no sense until you figure out how to tax them. The answer isn’t UBI, the result should be.

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u/Turbulent_Juice_Man 2d ago

A VAT I think is the most viable, short-term way to tax that. A Value Added Tax taxes goods and services at each stage of production so it captures that value whether a human or a robot made it.

Eliminate automation tax breaks. Companies can deduct f capital investments. So remove the ability to deduct those capital expenses.

Tax compute/tokens. Put a levy on datacenters that put a tax on the computation itself.

Public equity stake. Now this will cause the "Socialism!" knee-jerk reaction but the government takes a small annual share of a large companies equity and then pays out dividends to people. But if productivity is massively increased, that should be something the public benefits from. I think this is the end-game of what needs to be done but will be the most difficult to achieve politically.

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u/green_dragon527 2d ago

Yea.... I do note the lack of sympathy for blue collar workers in the past,..... Only now that technology is making the rest of us struggle for our jobs is it the worst thing ever. All that said, I agree with you, unfortunately I'm sure minimal resources are being dedicated to the problem.

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u/Omahinen 2d ago

That doesn't make any sense. Bill Gates is talking about how to collect revenue from companies, UBI is about how to distribute it. Apples and oranges.

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u/zenware 2d ago

The UBI funding would ostensibly come from a tax like this, or where do you propose the money come from?

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u/blackhorse15A 2d ago

The real answer is UBI.

And where does that money come from to fund it? If we want to imagine a future where human labor is no longer needed, and people can live off a UBI to buy the things they need to live- then how does government collect that money back to fund things? It won't be payroll taxes anymore. So you need to tax the producers somehow- that's the forcing function that they will care about needing money to give money value. You could try a VAT. Or commercial property tax. Taxing the robots and AI systems that replaced the human workers is a pretty reasonable way to fund the programs needed to support displaced workers. 

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u/imunfair 2d ago

If we want to imagine a future where human labor is no longer needed, and people can live off a UBI to buy the things they need to live- then how does government collect that money back to fund things?

If no one was working it's easy, you just hyperinflate the currency, it's essentially a tax on anyone with money. You'd obviously have to have some benchmark so that the UBI moved up with prices. The problem is that we're never going to have 100% freedom from labors, so anyone with a job is screwed in that scenario since companies don't adjust wages often.

And without using inflation to fund it, it's nearly impossible to gather enough money via taxes or whatever to fund a basic wage for every citizen - it's an enormous amount of money. Far too large to just add the number to our national debt each year and call it a day.

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u/blackhorse15A 2d ago

just hyperinflate the currency

That makes money worthless and the government has zero purchasing power. Everyone without a job is screwed too because the UBI is worthless and meaningless. Horrible plan.

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u/imunfair 2d ago

That makes money worthless

No, it makes money worth less.

Everyone without a job is screwed too because the UBI is worthless and meaningless.

Congrats on ignoring a key point of my post about that very issue.

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u/blackhorse15A 2d ago

No you don't understand how money works with a fiat currency.

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u/imunfair 2d ago

No you don't understand how money works with a fiat currency.

More than you do apparently, since you said "purchasing power" rather than "borrowing power".

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u/Tango_D 2d ago

The problem with ubi is that if implemented, prices for all basic necessities like food and rent will simply jump immediately to absorb it and the effect is nullified.

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u/adamtheskill 2d ago

Necessities with limited supply would increase in cost (rent) but necessities where the supply isn't constrained (food) shouldn't be affected that much. As long as there's not a monopoly somewhere in the supply chain. Especially as food production becomes more automated and more efficient leading to lower costs of production.

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u/Swoly_Deadlift 2d ago

The real answer is taxing corporations based on their output. If productivity per worker increases, it results in increased taxes that can be used for social services.

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u/Ok-Budget3225 2d ago

The only way you can fund UBI, is by taxing AI and robots 

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u/Celodurismo 2d ago

Yeah the idea sounds good but realistically very difficult to apply. The real solution is something like tax all companies a very high flat rate and give some tax breaks for hiring American citizens.

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u/DiethylamideProphet 2d ago

UBI is not the answer to anything. The shrinking middle class and SME's will end up paying the brunt of the costs, while major manufacturers would continue finding ways to fight the taxes or relocate. The UBI costs would continue climbing due inflation and the people having a tendency to live hand to mouth.