What would Skynet do? One San Francisco official is pushing for a 'robot tax'

[TalkRadio]

"I think automation is a good thing," San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Jane Kim told CNBC's "On the Money" in an interview, "but there will be a downside to this technological progress and workers will be left behind."

To try to combat that, Kim has created a committee called the "Jobs of the Future Fund." "We're exploring continuing the payroll tax and extending it to robots that perform jobs humans currently do," Kim explains. Companies would pay into a fund, the same payroll tax and social security the replaced worker was due.

Kim told CNBC that the goal "is to help smooth this transition, help workers that are displaced by their jobs re-educate and retrain." She added that the money could be used to train workers for future jobs, provide free community college, and "invest in creating meaningful and high wage jobs in industries that are currently hard to automate like child care workers, which is currently a poverty profession."

Kim's idea comes at a time when the debate over automation, and its effects on employment, is picking up speed. A recent study by two MIT academics found that the addition of one robot per thousand workers had a negative effect on both employment and wages.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/08/san-franciso-official-pushes-for-taxes-on-robots.html

 

[Richard_P_Feynman]

A robot tax, in the long term, is likely to accomplish jack all against the march of automation. Better to make the transition to an automated society smoother.