The world is becoming more and more automated and one California City wants to tax the high tech. San Francisco city supervisor Jane Kim is setting up a working group to consider taxing companies that replace human workers with robots. The idea was originally proposed by Microsoft CEO Bill Gates who says that a robot tax could slow down the shift to automation and give society a chance to catch up. Gates says it could also mean a higher salary for work done by humans such as taking care of children or the elderly. And Supervisor Kim agrees. Right now San Francisco has one of the biggest income gaps between the rich and poor in the country. She says automation will make that gap worse and it’s time to think about different ways to invest in society. So her working group will consider things such as how much revenue the city could lose from automation, and the industries that will be the most affected. Ideally the money raised by taxes will go back into city programs. Or to fight back when the robots rise up.Robot Tax
The world is becoming more and more automated and one California City wants to tax the high tech. San Francisco city supervisor Jane Kim is setting up a working group to consider taxing companies that replace human workers with robots. The idea was originally proposed by Microsoft CEO Bill Gates who says that a robot tax could slow down the shift to automation and give society a chance to catch up. Gates says it could also mean a higher salary for work done by humans such as taking care of children or the elderly. And Supervisor Kim agrees. Right now San Francisco has one of the biggest income gaps between the rich and poor in the country. She says automation will make that gap worse and it’s time to think about different ways to invest in society. So her working group will consider things such as how much revenue the city could lose from automation, and the industries that will be the most affected. Ideally the money raised by taxes will go back into city programs. Or to fight back when the robots rise up.