Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is much smarter—and richer!—than I will ever be, but even smart, rich men can have bad ideas.
During a February interview with the digital news outlet Quartz, Gates suggested that robots should be taxed as a way to compensate factory workers displaced by automation. Since factory workers pay Social Security and income taxes, he reasoned, if those workers are replaced by robots, then the robots should be similarly taxed to restore the lost government revenue. Gates worried that the rate at which factories are implementing robotics and automation is outpacing the economy’s ability to reallocate displaced factory workers. A robot tax would tamp the brakes on automation and generate revenue for retraining, education and social services.