3 ms·

Capitalistic societies still have taxes. Any realistic UBI proposal would have to funnel some of the efficiency gains from automation toward constructing a stro

Capitalistic societies still have taxes. Any realistic UBI proposal would have to funnel some of the efficiency gains from automation toward constructing a strong social safety net.

wizzwizz4 5y ago
For a one-sentence policy proposal, that sounds almost perfect… but how do you quantify “efficiency gains from automation”?
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
  Revenue per employee, usually. (There are many measures of labor productivity, though.) Really, you'd just want to tax corporations over a certain size that are both highly automated (i.e. high revenue per employee), and have lopsided compensation structures (which could be measured by CEO to median worker pay). If a company successfully automates a bunch of jobs, and then makes that money rain equally on all their remaining employees, I'd have no problem with it. I only think they should be taxed if they try to distribute those gains exclusively to the executives and shareholders.
  - chii 5y ago
    > makes that money rain equally on all their remaining employees, I'd have no problem with it. why would the remaining employees, who have no invested capital into the business (with which the automation is driven by), receive any of the gains from said automation? The people who invested the capital into the automation reaps the profit. In this case, it's often the shareholders in the end.
    - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
      > The people who invested the capital into the automation reaps the profit. Yes, that's how it works today. That's not how I'd like it to work. Many people here get a significant portion of their compensation via RSUs, ESPPs, and other profit-sharing initiatives, and any company that decides to extend these benefits to lower level workers should be treated favourably by the tax system.

3 ms·

Capitalistic societies still have taxes. Any realistic UBI proposal would have to funnel some of the efficiency gains from automation toward constructing a stro

by rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago

Capitalistic societies still have taxes. Any realistic UBI proposal would have to funnel some of the efficiency gains from automation toward constructing a strong social safety net.

wizzwizz4 5y ago
For a one-sentence policy proposal, that sounds almost perfect… but how do you quantify “efficiency gains from automation”?
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
  Revenue per employee, usually. (There are many measures of labor productivity, though.) Really, you'd just want to tax corporations over a certain size that are both highly automated (i.e. high revenue per employee), and have lopsided compensation structures (which could be measured by CEO to median worker pay). If a company successfully automates a bunch of jobs, and then makes that money rain equally on all their remaining employees, I'd have no problem with it. I only think they should be taxed if they try to distribute those gains exclusively to the executives and shareholders.
  - chii 5y ago
    > makes that money rain equally on all their remaining employees, I'd have no problem with it. why would the remaining employees, who have no invested capital into the business (with which the automation is driven by), receive any of the gains from said automation? The people who invested the capital into the automation reaps the profit. In this case, it's often the shareholders in the end.
    - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
      > The people who invested the capital into the automation reaps the profit. Yes, that's how it works today. That's not how I'd like it to work. Many people here get a significant portion of their compensation via RSUs, ESPPs, and other profit-sharing initiatives, and any company that decides to extend these benefits to lower level workers should be treated favourably by the tax system.