Granting robots a legal personality could lead to the emergence of an electronic ability to pay, which should be recognised for tax purposes, argues Xavier Oberson of the University of Geneva, in an article for the OECD yearbook, How taxing robots could help bridge future revenue gaps.
The likely future impact of artificial intelligence and robots on the labour market is the subject of much current discussion. If mass workplaces for humans were to disappear, one result would be significant reductions in tax and social security revenues, with the need for additional state revenue to support the growing number of unemployed human workers.
A tax on the use of robots could help provide a solution to this problem. Issues to be considered, however, would include:
a clear and agreed definition of robots, focused mainly on autonomy;
ways of taxing robots, such as based on an imputed hypothetical salary for equivalent work done by humans, or an amount representing an approximated ability to pay the tax, attributed to the employer or owner of the robots;
a possible value-added tax on robots’ activities, or on the robots themselves.
Some scholars have advocated an ‘automation tax’, based on the ratio of a company’s revenues to number of employees. The higher the ratio of robots to sales, the higher the tax.
Taxing robots raises issues that go beyond national borders and should be analysed globally, starting now, Xavier Oberson says.
Granting robots a legal personality could lead to the emergence of an electronic ability to pay, which should be recognised for tax purposes, argues Xavier Oberson of the University of Geneva, in an article for the OECD yearbook, How taxing robots could help bridge future revenue gaps.
The likely future impact of artificial intelligence and robots on the labour market is the subject of much current discussion. If mass workplaces for humans were to disappear, one result would be significant reductions in tax and social security revenues, with the need for additional state revenue to support the growing number of unemployed human workers.
A tax on the use of robots could help provide a solution to this problem. Issues to be considered, however, would include:
a clear and agreed definition of robots, focused mainly on autonomy;
ways of taxing robots, such as based on an imputed hypothetical salary for equivalent work done by humans, or an amount representing an approximated ability to pay the tax, attributed to the employer or owner of the robots;
a possible value-added tax on robots’ activities, or on the robots themselves.
Some scholars have advocated an ‘automation tax’, based on the ratio of a company’s revenues to number of employees. The higher the ratio of robots to sales, the higher the tax.
Taxing robots raises issues that go beyond national borders and should be analysed globally, starting now, Xavier Oberson says.
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