The Economist – Why taxing robots is not a good idea
A new debate emerges:
FT’s excellent piece - Robot tax: Do androids dream of personal deductions?
“Bill Gates, the
world’s richest person, suggested that a fiscal rethink may soon be necessary.
If the latest wave of automation causes large numbers of job losses, the
Microsoft co-founder said, then taxing the robots and using the money to
retrain the humans may be one way to deal with the upheaval ahead…But to
deliberately delay technologies that could bring sweeping benefits is
guaranteed to stir unease — not least among the engineers and entrepreneurs
working in the fields of robotics and AI.”