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But those robots won't pay taxes to support the elderly :) It's a tough topic for sure. I've heard that German people are a lot better with immigrants and raci

• jcynix 5y ago
  > But those robots won't pay taxes to support the elderly :) That's a problem which could be resolved: companies do replace people by robots to reduce labor costs. But companies (owners, shareholders, etc) still want to profit from all kinds of common infrastructure. So force them (with law and regulations) to continue to share a part of the saved expenses, e.g. by continuing to pay social expenses for their robots. That way they'd still save money by automation, but would do this in some socially responsible ways.
  • robots_arise 5y ago
    Your suggestion is counterproductive. Companies that are forced to pay a robot tax are uncompetitive and will be forced out of the market. End result: no tax revenue. Companies that operate in an industry that can be or is likely to be automated will hire less or no people so as to not be liable for the robot tax should they at a later date start automating. End result: less employment, less tax revenue and stunted growth. A robot tax will result in more bullshit jobs. Jobs that can be done by automation should be done by machines. Human labor should be reserved for jobs that cannot be automated. Your suggestion is akin to a populist policy that treats symptoms rather than root causes, trading good optics and a short term gain for unintended consequences and long term pain.