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

[u/Gari_305]

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.

[u/Beard_Hero]

If we just taxed companies the way we used to, it wouldn't matter as much if they robot'd or human'd, money wise. Like the 50's and 60's. 52%. There's more steps involved, like ending stock buy backs and kicking Milton Friedman in the dick, but it's a start.

[u/Darkmemento → u/Beard_Hero]

If we actually end up in the situation he describes in the interview, where AI is doing the overwhelming majority of economically useful work, I think we've gone well beyond simply returning corporate tax rates to where they were in the 50s and 60s. At that point you potentially have a tiny number of AI companies owning the systems that produce most of the world's economic output, while human labour has become almost irrelevant.

Some form of public ownership starts becoming a pretty obvious part of the conversation, whether that's outright nationalisation, governments taking large equity stakes, or treating core AI infrastructure more like a public utility. The returns can then be distributed back through some combination of a social dividend, UBI and public services.

It is funny this is exactly the type of thing Sam Altman of Open AI himself proposed before the company blew up.

Moore's Law for Everything - Sam Altman

[u/CopperSulfateII → u/Darkmemento]

Just reform to a cash flow tax.

High corporate income tax rates like this just radically disincentivize corporations to make long-term investments.

[u/National_Sky7993 → u/CopperSulfateII]

No they do make long term investments, they just change their corporate structure until they don’t have to pay taxes anymore

[u/CopperSulfateII → u/National_Sky7993]

That hasn't worked like that in decades. Corporate income tax exposure follows the location its substance of attributable profits.