We tell you what experts think about the robotization of the labor market
Find out whether or not it would be feasible for robots to pay taxes in the future
Vacuum cleaners that clean the office autonomously, bots that take care of customer service while the employee is not available, machines that load and unload the merchandise to be transported on their own...
Start of marked textThe Constitution greece email list says that everyone will contribute to the maintenance of public expenses. And will robots be included in that “everyone”? Find out here.End of marked text
Robot technology has arrived in the office . And all signs point to it being here to stay. But the increased role of robots in the workplace and the replacement of humans in some tasks has raised a number of legal questions, such as whether robots should also pay taxes .
Pay personal income tax and contribute to Social Security
The introduction of robots into the labour market will be a major change. Technologists such as Bill Gates claim that this process will mean a change in the rules of the game in a few years . In his opinion, the workers who are replaced must be compensated and one of the ways to do this is by making robots pay taxes.
Bill Gates believes that workers replaced by robots should be compensated
More than half of young people believe that robots should pay personal income tax and social security contributions. This is the conclusion of a survey conducted by the Santa Lucía Institute between 2017 and 2018. Furthermore, 71.46% of those born between 1981 and 1993 believe that the robotisation of work should be associated with a kind of compensatory income for those employees who have been replaced.
60% robotization
First there was the Industrial Revolution and now robotisation, also known as Industry 4.0 . It seems obvious that technological development is once again requiring organisational restructuring in society , as has happened in the past. The arrival of robots will mean a fundamental change in the system and will likely affect the Administration.
Some people predict that in the coming years the level of robotization in employment will reach 60%. This means that 60% of current jobs will be dispensable. However, it must also be taken into account that robotization and other technological updating processes are generating new jobs .
If robots did not contribute to Social Security and did not pay taxes, it is possible that economic problems would be caused in the states.
In any case, wage taxation is one of the major sources of public revenue in most countries. If robots were used in many jobs , productivity would increase ; but if robots did not pay social security contributions or taxes, the total effect on public revenue is uncertain.
What taxes would robots pay?
Taxing robots would help the system to be sustainable . Experts therefore believe that companies that generate little employment because they automate most of their production processes should pay a tax on this automation.
Another option being considered is for companies to pay a single payment, which would be calculated based on the robot's production capacity.
A third possibility would be to tax the activity carried out by the robot with VAT and for the company to pay the VAT on said activity once it has finished.