IMO it would be better to fund a UBI with some simpler tax on companies, don’t think it’s actually a good thing for them to end up making people do work that robots could be doing as a way to avoid taxes.
But the opposite is already true today. Companies can make robots do work that people can do as a way to avoid taxes. Adding a tax on robots simply levels the playing field.
What if there was a lightbulb changing robot that cost $30 and lasted ten years? But because they would have to pay taxes on it as if it was a minimum wage employee, its use cannot be justified and an existing employee has to still spend extra time changing lightbulbs. That seems broken to me. Work that doesn’t need to exist shouldn’t.
IMO it would be better to fund a UBI with some simpler tax on companies, don’t think it’s actually a good thing for them to end up making people do work that robots could be doing as a way to avoid taxes.
But the opposite is already true today. Companies can make robots do work that people can do as a way to avoid taxes. Adding a tax on robots simply levels the playing field.
What if there was a lightbulb changing robot that cost $30 and lasted ten years? But because they would have to pay taxes on it as if it was a minimum wage employee, its use cannot be justified and an existing employee has to still spend extra time changing lightbulbs. That seems broken to me. Work that doesn’t need to exist shouldn’t.