CaliToday (08/10/2025): As artificial intelligence continues its rapid integration into the global workforce, sparking both innovation and anxiety, a provocative idea from one of tech's most influential figures is gaining renewed traction: a tax on robots. The concept, first proposed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is once again at the center of policy debates, this time with a compelling link to funding a future social safety net like universal basic income (UBI).
A Visionary Spark from 2017
Long before generative AI platforms like ChatGPT dominated headlines, Bill Gates floated a bold concept in a 2017 interview. He suggested that companies deploying automation to fill roles once held by people should pay a tax equivalent to the payroll and income taxes a human worker would have contributed.
"Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed," Gates explained at the time. "If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you'd think that we'd tax the robot at a similar level."
The proposal was designed to address two key issues: recapturing lost government revenue and potentially slowing down the pace of automation to allow society to adapt. At the time, it was a visionary spark, tackling a future that few were seriously contemplating.
From Abstract Future to Urgent Reality
Fast forward to today, and that once-distant future has arrived. AI and advanced robotics are transforming industries from manufacturing and logistics to customer service and creative work, displacing workers at an accelerating pace. Gates' idea, once abstract, now fuels serious global policy debates as the economic and social waves of automation hit hard. The conversation is no longer about if jobs will be replaced, but about how society will manage the transition for the millions of workers affected.
The Evolving Link to Universal Basic Income (UBI)
While Gates did not initially tie his robot tax proposal directly to universal basic income, the connection between the two concepts has grown stronger over time, reflecting an evolution in his own thinking.
In a 2017 Reddit AMA, when asked about UBI, Gates expressed skepticism, noting that he didn't believe the United States was "rich enough" to implement such a program yet. His focus remained on using the tax revenue to fund the retraining of workers and support jobs in fields requiring human empathy, such as elder care and education.
However, his perspective has since shifted significantly. In the 2024 Netflix series What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates, he presented a new, pragmatic argument for UBI. He argued that providing a basic income floor could be a sound economic investment by dramatically cutting poverty-related societal costs.
He pointed to staggering figures, such as the estimated $1 trillion annual cost of child poverty in the U.S. when accounting for increased healthcare expenses, higher crime rates, and reduced adult earning potential. From this perspective, UBI is not just a handout but a long-term strategy to reduce systemic financial burdens, effectively saving the country money.
By connecting the dots, the "robot tax" emerges as a logical funding mechanism for this ambitious social safety net. The revenue generated from taxing the automated economy could be redirected to support the human economy, providing a financial cushion for displaced workers and ensuring that the immense productivity gains from AI are more broadly distributed across society.
As the AI revolution continues to unfold, the once-radical idea of taxing robots may become an essential tool for building a more equitable and stable future.