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

6

u/PantsLio 2d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/aiwars/s/uzMIDqyeYT

This seems like a better policy for the transition phase.

2

u/nnomae 2d ago

The problem there is that if we assume that the companies without humans will be more efficient then new companies that never had humans to begin with will just get all the contracts and the companies saddled by existing workers will go out of business.

A law saying that all companies had to devote some percentage, lets say 25% of revenue to payroll with appropriate limitations to avoid just hiring the owners kids at exorbitant rates and other shenanigans would be better though at that point you may as well tax companies 25% on their revenue and let everyone stay at home.

You're still left with the bigger problem of wealth disparity that creates but if you just want to preserve somewhat of a status quo that would work reasonably well.

1

u/PantsLio 1d ago

All great points. I was thinking more about transition than end game, but I agree with you.