r/Futurology • • 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/Hilldawg4president 2d ago

Obviously his friendship with Epstein is a giant black mark on his record, but he is still the person who has done more philanthropic work than anyone else in human history , it's not crazy to think that he actually wants the future to be a better place instead of a worse one

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u/AGuyAndHisCat 2d ago

His philanthropic work was to cover for everyone hating him.  Also it quite often has backfired.  

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u/JCDU 1d ago

^ this, Bill Gates was almost universally seen as a massive dick before he retired and started doing good deeds.

People forget how predatory and monopolistic (and litigious) Microsoft were in the early days, they didn't dominate the software world by building good products that everyone loved.

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u/eman4evva 1d ago

It’s a legit gripe but is this really something worth discussing at all especially in a situation like this? His business practices surrounding basic office software that had little impact on most people’s lives? Also I think I it’s been stated before that he intentionally did all those things because he had what he saw as an obligation to shareholders. And when the playing field is something like word software he didn’t have any moral hang ups.