Kathleen Riley blogs that as technology advances, we are finding newer and cheaper ways to manufacture goods and offer services. This has come in the form of job automation and artificial intelligence (AI), where the value of human labor decreases resulting in massive losses of jobs. Approximately 47% of the entire U.S. work force is predicted to phase out with the progression of automation and AI.
Before Obama left the White House, he left a strong message for Americans stating that strong measures need to be taken in order to prevent millions of job losses. So far, there have been two major proposed solutions to these concerns ... Universal Basic Income (UBI) and or robot taxes.
It sounds strange that we would be forcing a non-sentient object to pay taxes, but many people including Bill Gates have sided with this option. Gates stated that if you tax robots, you will prevent the loss of income tax revenue normally made by human laborers. The total taxed amount could then be used to retrain and prepare displaced human workers for employment again.
But how much would you know to tax robots? Would the amount be the same across all robots? It all sounds like a logistical nightmare. But companies who opt for automation and AI in their labor force would pay tremendous up-front costs on top of the potentially hefty tax amount. It could possibly deter companies from even moving towards using robots in the first place.
Either as an alternative or in addition to, Universal Basic Income (UBI) is making waves as another popular alternative. The basic idea of UBI is that every citizen of a country receives a monthly stipend that they can use to cover living expenses. This amount requires no fine print, you pretty much just have to be a citizen.
Elon Musk swears by UBI, but economists are still debating on whether or not the practice is cost effective. The cost of the welfare program could exceed the overall benefit.
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