Bill Gates calls for robot and AI taxes to blunt AI Job losses

The billionaire and Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, has backed ongoing calls for a robot tax and also proposed that certain jobs be set aside as “Human Reserved.”

In a new essay on his Gates Notes blog, he argues that the proposals are meant to help workers who may lose jobs to AI in the next decade. 

Gates says this is important now because more people are worried about automation, and he is confident that AI will hurt employment.

The tax loophole Bill Gates says favors machines

Bill Gates pointed out a problem with how companies are taxed. When a company hires a person, it pays payroll taxes. But if it buys a robot, the cost can often be written off right away as a business expense. 

According to him, that difference means “the tax system nudges you toward replacing people with machines.”

He argues that direct taxes on AI tokens and robots preserve human jobs while generating government revenue. As automation reduces the workforce, income tax revenues fall while social security and retraining costs rise.

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