NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / — The organization CNBC reported that former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has called on the federal government to replace conventional payroll taxes with a direct tax on artificial intelligence. During his appearance on CNBC’s Power Lunch, Yang explained that current tax policies create artificial incentives for companies to substitute human employees with automated systems. He pointed out that existing legislation unintentionally supports job automation by imposing high payroll taxes on employers while granting tax benefits to firms that implement algorithmic automation.
Throughout the interview, Yang highlighted that under current tax codes, businesses face significant payroll taxes and healthcare costs when hiring human workers. In contrast, companies utilizing artificial intelligence do not bear similar labor-related taxes, effectively reducing the expenses associated with automated labor. Noble Mobile’s CEO emphasized that the current legal environment implicitly encourages corporations to accelerate replacing human jobs with automation across various economic sectors.
Yang States That Society Is Subsidizing Technology That Could Displace Millions of Jobs
Yang proposed a strategic policy shift that would redirect financial burdens from traditional payroll taxes onto automated compute tokens and AI-generated revenue streams. Referring to recent remarks by Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, who suggested a 3 percent revenue tax on generative AI implementations, Yang argued that taxing interactions with automated software is a practical solution to address market distortions. He emphasized that the revenue collected from an AI tax should be directly redistributed to citizens as universal cash dividends instead of being allocated to legacy retraining initiatives.
This policy discussion unfolds amid rising economic concerns about workplace automation in the United States. A recent joint survey by CNBC and Generation Lab revealed that 45 percent of young Americans aged 18 to 34 believe artificial intelligence will harm their long-term career prospects. Additionally, macroeconomic forecasts by Bridgewater Associates’ executives estimate that automated platforms could threaten approximately 18 percent of all domestic jobs within the next five years.
Rapid Industry Changes Displace Customer Service Workers
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that customer service roles in the U.S. currently employ about 2.9 million workers, making it one of the first sectors experiencing swift automation-driven transformation. Yang warned that government-led retraining programs have historically fallen short in helping displaced industrial and administrative workers find sustainable new careers. He pointed to past retraining efforts for coal miners and warehouse staff as evidence that direct financial support tends to be more effective than federal job transition schemes.
Yang concluded by stressing that legislative reforms are needed to ensure that human workers remain competitive in an era of rapidly advancing AI agents. Since current tax policies effectively subsidize a technology poised to replace millions of jobs, he stressed that establishing neutral tax legislation is crucial for navigating the ongoing digital transformation of the labor market. Legislative proposals are under review by policy experts as they prepare for upcoming congressional sessions focused on addressing workplace automation disruptions.