In a recent interview Bill Gates discussed the concept  of a robot tax and why this might become necessary for our government’s future.

Automation, robotics and technological advancements are exciting, but Bill Gates points out an important caveat. The billionaire Microsoft founder lays out how implementing a robot tax could play a pivotal roll in automation’s impact on our country’s future.In order to fund public schools, jobs and similar programs we need income taxes. Because robots are replacing many jobs that used to be performed by humans, shouldn’t they too be required to pay income tax?

Why a robot tax is actually not wacky…

While a robot tax may seem like a wacky idea at first, Gates says that many tech companies already have a sneaking suspicion something like this is coming soon (see more here: http://mashable.com/2017/02/18/bill-gates-robot-tax/?utm_cid=hp-h-7#sTvEPnKE6kqx). For over a century it has been customary in the U.S. to tax human workers depending on how much they make. If a robot is now doing exactly what a human used to do, say $50,000 worth of work a year, you would think the robot would get taxed at a similar rate. This is important for two, point reasons. If there are jobs that robots can do just as well if not better than humans, there’s an upside. It frees up more humans to do jobs that still, truly require human empathy, interaction and face to face communication.

More people with more time for extremely important jobs could mean true improvement. Better teachers with smaller class sizes, more attentive nurses and doctors and better care for the elderly. These are lofty thoughts but Gates says it is all cyclical. With more time and manpower going toward these person to person type jobs, we will end up with improved performance.

Our country heavily relies on income taxes. So, it only seems fair that we create a robot tax for these machines. If they are  beginning to take human jobs, they ought to be charged. Gates says, “You can’t just give up that income tax because that’s part of how you’ve been funding that level of human workers”. Implementing a robot tax is obviously valuable when you think about it through this lens.

What’s wrong with talking about a robot tax?

The problem is that this is not a commonly discussed topic and the general public lacks information of its importance. There is an alternative to humans becoming dispensable. Taxing a larger group of entities and improved performance in many important jobs could lead to an extremely bright future for our country. This is the message that we must share and link to the idea of a robot tax. There is nothing more powerful than informed individuals who respectfully share information with others. Become informed, create an opinion and share the opportunities you envision for a future with a robot tax. Learn more here: https://qz.com/911968/bill-gates-the-robot-that-takes-your-job-should-pay-taxes/