Robots are stealing jobs? Maybe they are used to replace humans in a job which they can perform better, faster, and more economically than humans, but the only robot I have seen stealing was a vending machine.
Tax the robot? Robots typically have no income. If the robot fails to pay tax would it be locked in prison where it could power down until its sentence was served? Robots typically increase the profit of the company which uses them and that company pays taxes on its profit. With the progressive tax system we have they pay tax at a higher rate. It would seem that there is already a tax on robots.
I worked for a company that made automatic label applicators which would apply an adhesive label to a box coming down a conveyor. I have helped install these in manufacturing plants where the employees were extremely hostile towards us. The person who applied the label in the past was no longer needed in that position. My response to them was that in the majority of businesses where I had installed a machine, they took the people who had applied labels and started another production line, increasing their output. If their company failed to do so, it was an issue that they needed to talk to management about. I got the definite impression that they intended to sabotage the machine.
Many years ago I had the idea that it would be possible to make general purpose robots with most of the capabilities of a human. These robots could be used to build a factory which produces more robots, then a factory which produces e.g. shoes, then pants, then cars, and then mining and agricultural robots. With no labor cost involved it would be difficult or impossible to compete with them. With fewer people employed it would become increasingly difficult to find consumers for the goods produced and the manufacturer would be left no choice except to provide a basic income for all people. Those who want to rise above a basic income would need to engage in design work, developing new styles of shoe, pants, cars, etc. They would be compensated according to the demand for their particular design.
If the robots are capable of repairing themselves or other robots it would still be necessary for a human to monitor the overall operation to preclude the possibility of a malfunctioning robot "repairing" other robots to malfunction.
We are still a long way from having such general purpose robots but the use of robots is already taxed.
If a robot could assemble other robots, are those the original robots' "dependents"? Or if I provide the electricity and spare parts are they my "dependents"? I don't think the concept of robotic dependents is going to work for tax purposes, but I do imagine tax attorneys giving it a try.
This concept is already in use to a limited degree. Car registration, taxes on gas, real estate taxes, etc, are all taxes on assets that produce income. A robotic tax is just an extension of that.
[+] [-] BillBohan|9 years ago|reply
Robots are stealing jobs? Maybe they are used to replace humans in a job which they can perform better, faster, and more economically than humans, but the only robot I have seen stealing was a vending machine.
Tax the robot? Robots typically have no income. If the robot fails to pay tax would it be locked in prison where it could power down until its sentence was served? Robots typically increase the profit of the company which uses them and that company pays taxes on its profit. With the progressive tax system we have they pay tax at a higher rate. It would seem that there is already a tax on robots.
I worked for a company that made automatic label applicators which would apply an adhesive label to a box coming down a conveyor. I have helped install these in manufacturing plants where the employees were extremely hostile towards us. The person who applied the label in the past was no longer needed in that position. My response to them was that in the majority of businesses where I had installed a machine, they took the people who had applied labels and started another production line, increasing their output. If their company failed to do so, it was an issue that they needed to talk to management about. I got the definite impression that they intended to sabotage the machine.
Many years ago I had the idea that it would be possible to make general purpose robots with most of the capabilities of a human. These robots could be used to build a factory which produces more robots, then a factory which produces e.g. shoes, then pants, then cars, and then mining and agricultural robots. With no labor cost involved it would be difficult or impossible to compete with them. With fewer people employed it would become increasingly difficult to find consumers for the goods produced and the manufacturer would be left no choice except to provide a basic income for all people. Those who want to rise above a basic income would need to engage in design work, developing new styles of shoe, pants, cars, etc. They would be compensated according to the demand for their particular design.
If the robots are capable of repairing themselves or other robots it would still be necessary for a human to monitor the overall operation to preclude the possibility of a malfunctioning robot "repairing" other robots to malfunction.
We are still a long way from having such general purpose robots but the use of robots is already taxed.
[+] [-] zunzun|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TomMarius|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WheelsAtLarge|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orionblastar|9 years ago|reply