• devzero@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Should we tax bulldozers because they take away jobs from people using shovels? What about farm equipment, since they take away jobs from people picking fruit by hand? What about mining equipment, because they take away jobs from people using pickaxes?

    • RatzChatsubo@vlemmy.net
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      1 year ago

      If the machine replaced the human, yes. That’s the argument being made currently.

      Imagine if we simply taxed machine profits after 40 hours of work. You not only can give kickbacks to large companies, but you could also rewire profits to UBI

      • pitninja@lemmy.pit.ninja
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        1 year ago

        It’s the wrong way to go about it, though. Just tax businesses’ profits and close the bullshit loopholes they exploit to avoid paying them.

      • devzero@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        But 40 hours of “work” is poorly defined. If you had everyone digging with spoons on your construction site, then you might need 100 people at 40 hours per week. If you have everyone shovels, you would only need 10 people at 40 hours a week. Do you want to tax shovels for “taking the job” from 90 people?