“If a robot takes your job, it has to pay your taxes”: what if Bill Gates was right?

The idea is coming back to the forefront as fears for employment multiply. Bill Gates formulated it in 2017 in an interview with Quartz : a robot that replaces a worker should be taxed like him. At the time, we told you about it. Today, whileAmazon prepares to deploy 600,000 additional robotsthe proposition resonates differently.

8 years ago, Bill Gates already mentioned the idea of ​​a tax on robots

Gates’ reasoning was based, 8 years ago, on elementary accounting logic. “Currently, a human worker who produces $50,000 worth of value in a factory has their income taxed through income tax, social security contributions and other levies”he specified. “If a robot comes to do the same job, you would think it should be taxed at a similar level.”

This statement is not outdated since it emerges in a context where technological laboratories are investing massively in generative AI, despite warnings about a possible speculative bubble. The billionaire philanthropist also anticipated that driving and warehouse logistics would be among the first sectors affected by automation.

Gates suggested that the tax revenues thus generated finance the strengthening of social services for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. Education should also benefit from increased investments in human labor. “You should be prepared to increase taxes and even slow down”he added, emphasizing the need for a controlled transition.

The debate is not theoretical. Dario Amodei, who heads Anthropic (Claude), predicts the disappearance of half of entry-level administrative positions. In this context, taxing robots looks less like a brake than a way to share productivity gains. It remains to be seen whether governments will dare to take the plunge.