No, but the companies using it should.
If AI replaces workers, should it also pay taxes?
Submitted 1 day ago by hypertruck@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
wewbull@feddit.uk 1 day ago
bonenode@piefed.social 1 day ago
danc4498@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’m honestly fine with companies not paying taxes so long as their profits are being spent on people in lower tax brackets.
Current tax structure makes it easy for the company to just give all their profits to their executives.
70% tax on income over $1 million. Go back to a progressive tax structure for company profits. Not sure why my local donut shop is paying the same rate as Microsoft.
cv_octavio@piefed.ca 1 day ago
But corporations are people, and people pay taxes. So yes, you will be doing that here.
Fmstrat@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
And those hosting it.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today 11 hours ago
Of course it should. An industry run by AI, still needs roads and other public goods. Furthermore, the taxes can go towards UBI, allowing people to help guide the economy with their dollars and to ensure their personal wellbeing.
The big question is when do we remove human CEOs, and use their incomes for the common good?
pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 hours ago
If you have a robot vacuum, should you pay it minimum wage? It think this is what the argument you bring up
ragica@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Tax wealth, not work
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Tax productivity, not work. Worker productivity has skyrocketed in the past few decades, but taxes have remained constant. So the rich have been able to extract increasing amounts of productivity, while paying proportionally less and less in taxes. Meanwhile, worker wages have remained stagnant, meaning their productivity has gone up but they’re still being paid (and taxed) the same.
Wealth taxes should still absolutely be a thing, but they should be entirely divorced from a work (productivity) tax.
Anivia@feddit.org 23 hours ago
That sounds great, but how would you objectively quantify productivity
sqgl@sh.itjust.works 23 hours ago
Tax land in particular. Can’t hide land easily from tax office.
JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 3 hours ago
Should companies using computers in general pay a tax, a computer used to mean a human that calculated - computed - things by hand, after all.
But alarm clocks replaced knockeruppers, light bulbs replaced lamplighters, cars replaced coachmen, industrial robots replaced blacksmiths - the list of jobs made obsolete by technology during human history is massive.Generative AI, while widespread and disruptive, is just one more to the long list.
fishos@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is a moronic take. Do we also tax tools when they make a 4 person job a 1/2 person job? This is just an ass backwards way of approaching the wealth inequality and poor working conditions issues by focusing on a tool instead of the system itself.
architect@thelemmy.club 1 day ago
I mean, we easily could.
I pay property tax on my business tools.
So you just extend that concept. I don’t see why not.
fishos@lemmy.world 1 day ago
ok apparently we do in fact tax tools. And I can see how AI, being on the cloud, might not normally fall under computer equipment or other things that would be taxed, this needing it to be specifically included in tax law. Fuck me on that one.
I’ll give you that.
BUT
I still stand by this being a bandaid to a much larger problem concerning capitalists exploiting the labor of many and not being required to give everyone fair pay/equity. The inequality between the workforce and the ownership class is the problem. Them using AI is just their current tool of oppression, but not their only.
We need to address the root cause and directly tax the billionaires. And remove stock backed loans or at least realize their gains and tax them whenever they do use them as collateral for a loan. Shouldnt be able to claim unrealized gains and use it for collateral at the same time.
Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Remember, in USA companies are people, so they bribe the government with donations just like people, also money is free speech.
If they are people, they should pay taxes, why not? I say DO IT
fishos@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I hate that so much. Being “people” they can essentially “out-compete” actual people in the political process. It’s very much “anything you can do I can do better”. That’s why any solution has to target them directly.
UltraBlack@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
AI is ruining our climate, RAM prices, HDD prices qnd more. They should pay a lil extranfor that
IronBird@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
climate being ruined long before ai, and the PC hardware is just suppliers being allowed to price-gouge people.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is a moronic take.
It’s just a capital gains tax
framsanon@europe.pub 18 hours ago
If AI “destroys” jobs, then AI should not only pay taxes, but also contribute to health insurance, unemployment insurance and pension schemes. It doesn’t matter who ultimately pays. However, I would hold employers accountable, because they are the ones who are laying off employees in favour of AI.
notreallyhere@lemmy.world 1 day ago
good luck, churches don’t even pay taxes
YallCantFlimFlamTheZimZam@piefed.social 1 day ago
But they’re charities that are not for profit…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA … AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 1 day ago
HakunaHafada@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 hours ago
AI companies: “no”
Triasha@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
AI. Is huge capital investments. Just tax the wealth. Any fortune over 10 million has to pay 4% of the gross total per year.
cryptix@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
When computers replaced people are computers paying taxes.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Why should AI have to pay taxes when we have an ever increasing pool of poors, thanks in large part to AI taking their jobs, to increase the taxes on… in order to fund AI and to give tax breaks to the trillionaires?
and because there is inevitably going to be someone who fails to understand sarcasm, the heaviest of /s
Doomsider@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Because AI is a disruptive technology we should require 40% of gross profits be put into a fund to address its negative externalities.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Joke’s on you.
They don’t actually make any money. Not unless their a monopoly that’s captured regulators anyway.
Doomsider@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Gross profits, that way they are even more fucked. Can’t make it profitable? I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
horn_e4_beaver@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
Externalities? I thought Trump was getting rid of those? ;)
lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Better yet: nationalize the AI companies. Make AI like water supply or fire service - a public utility. My government is VERY far from perfect, but even a country with any semblance of democracy has a better chance of making AI safe and useful to all than a greedy corporation. That way the training data and model parameters can be opened to public scrutiny.
Ledivin@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I definitely want my complete incorruptible government to be in charge of the training and maintenance of the national knowledge repository, this sounds like a great idea with no chance of negative results.
At least Google just wants to steal and sell your data. Trump actively wants you to suffer.
Steamymoomilk@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
It needs a 900% tarrif on all good. That will surely fix the economy
Doomsider@lemmy.world 1 day ago
More tariffs! Lol
Lembot_0006@programming.dev 1 day ago
No, it shouldn’t. The same way as factory machines don’t pay it.
dukemirage@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They kinda do via taxes that are calculated based on the companies inventory value.
hairyfeet@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Machines are capital, inventory is stock. Neither are subject to tax under IFRS as far as I’m aware?
Dojan@pawb.social 1 day ago
I agree. Workers shouldn’t pay taxes, same way as the other machinery doesn’t.
REDACTED@infosec.pub 1 day ago
AI will have wage?
anothermember@feddit.uk 1 day ago
This kind of anthropomorphisation is bad, it shows a lack of understanding of the technology, it’s a terrible idea.
FireWire400@lemmy.world 1 day ago
AI shouldn’t pay taxes, but the companies making them should
andallthat@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Not an expert at all, but I think to an extent this already happens with the current system in most countries, and it would probably need to be done much more now. Not that Automation pays more taxes, but that having employees generally qualifies companies for tax breaks. For instance, when Amazon said “we’re going to open a new HQ”, States tripped over themselves to try and give them the largest tax breaks. But that was under the assumption that the HQ would give jobs to tens of thousand of people, not to 5 data scientist and a massive, energy-hungry data center.
skozzii@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
I think we should just let the billionaires have all of it, they seem to be the ones that need it the most.
horn_e4_beaver@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
To each according to the size of his greed.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Seizing the means of production means pretty much exactly this, yes.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
If AI replaces workers then capitalism is no longer possible. What’s the next step here?
abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
If AI replaces workers then capitalism is no longer possible. What’s the next step here?
When Capitalism replaced Feudalism, the elites of the Feudal society became the elites of the Capitalistic Society. When mechanization replaced workers, we saw some horrific conditions where the elites made loads of money while workers did work that was long and backbreaking while living in poverty.
So what I would imagine is a load of people working long hours for doing the few things AI and Automation can’t do for a pittance while a small group of tech oligarchs make loads of money.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Seems like we’d need to cull a percentage of the masses to make this work “economically”.
abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Yes because the amount of money being generated by a small group of people and the amount of money we will need not only to support AI but also the masses of underemployed and unemployed people it will create would require it if we maintain a capitalist-ish system that relies on AI and robotics for everything.
Because here’s the thing everyone seems to get wrong. Money isn’t like firewood, that’s something the establishment want people to believe so they can excuse defunding healthcare to fund subsidies for their friends. Money is like electricity. On it’s own sat in Scrooge McDuck’s Moneypit it has no value, but when it’s spent, that’s when it creates value.
That’s why small businesses are better for the economy than big ones, because when you spend a tenner at a small business, it’s more likely to be spent right afterwards, for example, to pay their workers, who then pays the babysitter, who then pays the take out who then pays the supplier. That tenner was spent five times and thus created £50 worth of value, whereas if you just spent it at your local Tesco, chances are that tenner goes to the CEO’s bank balance and stays there, not creating any value. Money that isn’t being spent is money that doesn’t create value. Billionaires aren’t billionaires because they make money by working hard, they horde money by using a small amount of their stash to collect even more money, and that money doesn’t get used. This is why Trickle Down Economics doesn’t work and never will because it takes money out the system.
Now when the amount of money being spent in an economy is low to the point that ventures can’t operate properly, that’s called a recession. It’s why central banks and governments try to get the economy going by putting some of it’s own money into the system a bit like trying to get a power grid back online in a Black Start. If the “energy” in an economy is being horded in the bank accounts of an evershrinking collection of people rather than being put into the economy, well, eventually, we’re gonna have an economic blackout (recession). This is why Billionaires are terrible for the economy, because they take money out of the economy and keep it for themselves, producing a net loss to the system. If there’s less money in the system, there’s less value being created.
The Solution? Piñata economics! Make the billionaires put money into the economy to the economy doesn’t shut down. Now the Billionaires and their allies have overthrown nations for suggesting they pay a little bit more Tax because they use money as a way to control people and maintain power over their countries and/or interests. This is why Capitalism is more a Political system than an Economic one. The solution, me thinks, would be to turn to the billionaires and say “You can only a maximum of £1 billion in your bank account, if you make £100 billion, that year, you will have to spend £99 Billion. If you still have over £1 Billion in your bank account, we take everything above a billion so you end up with £1 Billion again so we can spend it on things like infrastructure.”
If the Billionaire doesn’t want to give their money to the government, they can give it to charity or spend it on whatever they want. If they spend it, it creates value (which is good for the economy), if they give it to charity, those charities will spend it on good works, which is good for both society and the economy. They could spend it on their business (which will create jobs and thus, value) but if they don’t, let’s say they have £2.2 Billion in their accounts, the government gets £1.1 Billion to spend of infrastructure projects, healthcare, and Welfare, all of which will help the economy because Infrastructure allows for economic activities, Healthcare means people can create value and people on Welfare can buy things like food and shelter which, guess what, creates value because they’re spending money.
If billionaires are going to make money without employing humans and thus, take more money out of the economy, they should pay more in taxes so the bloody economy doesn’t grind to a halt.
vithigar@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Billionaires aren’t sitting on billions in currency held in banking accounts. They are holding billions in assets which are valued at those numbers. You couldn’t just take all of Bezo’s “wealth” above $1b without liquidating most of Amazon.
Not that I disagree with you in principle, it’s just not as simple as your proposed solution requires.
abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
And who told you this?
The billionaires. Straight up.
demonsword@lemmy.world 1 day ago
If you still have over £1 Billion in your bank account, we take everything above a billion so you end up with £1 Billion again so we can spend it on things like infrastructure.”
Even if it was feasible to implement something like that – it isn’t because Congress has been bought by rich folks since it began – what would really happen is that money would artificially circulate between a few hands in the big boy’s club, and nothing would really change.
melfie@lemy.lol 1 day ago
The current tech brings a modest productivity increase when used correctly, but it isn’t really taking anyone’s jobs. Articles like this that support the fraudster’s false claim that it will are part of the problem. No, don’t tax AI, just don’t use taxpayer money to bail these fuckers out when the bubble pops.
Amoxtli@thelemmy.club 1 day ago
Dumb article.
reddit_sux@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Tax is a special benefit for being a human.
logicbomb@lemmy.world 1 day ago
America was founded on the concept of no taxation without representation.
inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Still the poor and middle class.
canofcam@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
The answer to this post, and almost everything, is to tax the wealthy.
AI is not ruining anything. The people in control of it are.
Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca 13 hours ago
This is the correct take, right here. Per the article, ““The trend toward automation and AI could lead to a decrease in tax revenues. In the United States, for example, about 85% of federal tax revenue comes from labor income, says Sanjay Patnaik, director of the Center for Regulation and Markets at the Brookings Institution,” It’s the working plebs that are carrying the majority of the tax burden.
The rich can pay there fair share, or we can grid them up and feed the slush into a reverse osmosis machine during the water wars.