Robots doing human jobs should pay taxes. To say it is, perhaps a little surprisingly, Bill Gates, intervened in the growing debate on the increase of robots in factories, at the expense of human employees, who lose their jobs. A debate that involves, at various levels, many countries in the world: according to some estimates, there are eight million jobs at risk due to automation in the United States and as many as 15 million in Great Britain.
“At the moment – Gates explained – if a human worker earns $50.000 working in a factory, his income is taxed. If a robot does the same job it should be taxed at the same level." In this way it would be possible to free as many people as possible for jobs that only humans can do, such as teaching and caring for the elderly. The use of robots "can generate profits with savings on labor costs". It would therefore be less taxes than human ones.
"I do not believe that companies that produce robots - continued the founder of Microsoft - would be angry if a tax were imposed". In any case, with current technology, there would be less than 5% of current occupations that could be replaced through automation, a share that rises, however, to 45% with the use of other already tested technologies. At risk, moreover, are above all the least paid occupations, with the risk of a widening gap between rich and poor.
