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Re:As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace wor... by astrange on Friday July 21, 2017 @05:45PM (#14823936)
If the robot's owner gets an extra $50k income from this, we're actually getting more in tax because their marginal income is higher.
Re:As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace wor... by dragonwriter on Friday July 21, 2017 @07:28PM (#14824522)
> If the robot's owner gets an extra $50k income from this, we're actually getting more in tax because their marginal income is higher.

If the robot is owned by an individual taxpayer paying personal income tax on the income, and if you ignore taxes other than income tax that levied on labor income, and if you ignore accounting tricks, etc., this is fairly obviously true from the way progressive tax rates work.

OTOH, it becomes less obviously true when you consider how the robots are likely to be owned in the real world, the full set of taxes on income in the real world, and the greater practical ability of the rich to avoid taxation in the current system.

Re:As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace wor... by wcarron on Friday July 21, 2017 @07:21PM (#14824493)
Assuming the owners of capital are actually paying their fair-share of taxes on that extra $50k, as codified by the law.