Bill Gates suggested that companies using automation should pay taxes on robots similarly to payroll levies, to sustain public finances and social services.

Proposal and rationale

Gates argued that when artificial intelligence and robots displace human labor, governments should preserve revenue streams by taxing those automated roles like employees.

He framed such taxes as a tool to maintain funding for social programs and to help economies adapt to rapid workforce changes driven by automation.

Policy context

The proposal addresses the speed of automation and the potential gap in social financing if payroll contributions decline materially with job replacement.

Taxing automation would create a mechanism to redirect funds toward retraining, unemployment support, and other social expenditures without inventing new revenue concepts.

Implementation considerations

Translating the idea into policy would require defining taxable automation, assessing company deployments, and setting rates comparable to existing employment taxes and contributions.

Policymakers would also need to balance incentives for innovation with the objective of securing stable funding for social safety nets amid ongoing technological change.