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A robot tax punishes people

By Cian Hussey - posted Monday, 14 January 2019


As highlighted in the article, up to 10 percent of jobs are already lost every year in the UK. The beauty of the market economy however is that these are replaced by newly created jobs, with unemployment being the slight difference between the two, which usually comes down to the bad luck of timing.

So, many jobs are created and destroyed each year; technology is constantly improving, and the labour market is constantly adapting. If there were a sudden shift however, would the government be well-equipped to manage and speed up the process of structural unemployment?

Quite simply, no. The idea that a central planner has the foresight to know what kind of jobs individuals should be reskilling for is flawed. If this were the case, why would there be any structural unemployment ever? Central planning cannot match the efficiency of spontaneous order and market forces, the price mechanism, not a beaurocrat, is the fastest way to signal where employees are needed.

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And as for claims that the government should ensure that individuals can move into equivalent employment – this is perhaps an even more misleading line.

The rise of technology allows for individuals to move into far superior employment. It allows for safer, cleaner, more efficient workplaces. It reduces the cost of menial tasks, such as washing clothes and dishes, and frees up time to be better spent on more productive or enjoyable things.

So, should the government introduce a new tax on robots? No. Can some supposedly all-knowing, ever-intelligent beaurocrat direct the retooling and redeploying of thousands of workers each year? Certainly not.

As Adam Smith noted in 1759, we should be sceptical of central planners who think they can shape society. It would be folly to allow central planners to place punitive taxes on uses of arbitrary pieces of machinery to raise money for a policy they couldn't possibly make effective.

Living standards have increased immensely with the rise of technology. Automation shouldn't be supported for the sake of it, but should be supported as it has proved to be an effective means of allowing individuals to lead better and more meaningful lives.

Automation and technology should be embraced rather than feared: history has shown their value in freeing individuals from menial and dangerous tasks, allowing them to enjoy more leisure time or to move into a safer, better-paid and more productive job.

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This article was first published by LibertyWorks.



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About the Author

Cian is a Research Analyst at the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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