NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / — During a CNBC interview Tuesday, Andrew Yang, co-founder of the Forward Party, advocated for a fundamental overhaul in the tax system, suggesting a move from payroll taxes on human workers to levies directly targeting artificial intelligence. Yang expressed concern that current federal tax incentives encourage automation, which threatens to displace millions of jobs, and called for policymakers to balance the tax burden between human workers and algorithmic systems.
Yang highlighted that under present tax laws, companies that hire human employees shoulder substantial payroll taxes and healthcare costs. In contrast, corporations adopting artificial intelligence solutions do not face comparable labor-related taxes, resulting in lowered operational expenses for automated workforce options. Noble Mobile CEO emphasized that existing legal structures inadvertently promote corporate efforts to accelerate the replacement of human labor with automation across key sectors of the economy.
Andrew Yang Declares We Are Subsidizing a Technology That Will Displace Millions
Yang proposed an explicit policy shift that would redirect fiscal responsibilities from payroll taxes toward revenue streams generated by artificial intelligence and compute tokens. Drawing attention to recent remarks by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who suggested a 3 percent revenue tax on generative AI services, Yang argued that taxing interactions with automated software could be an effective method for restoring market equilibrium. He suggested that proceeds from such AI taxes should be distributed directly to citizens as universal cash dividends, instead of funding traditional retraining programs.
This policy discussion takes place amidst mounting economic concerns related to workplace automation throughout the United States. A recent survey conducted by CNBC and Generation Lab found that 45 percent of young Americans aged 18 to 34 believe artificial intelligence could adversely affect their long-term employment prospects. Additionally, macroeconomic forecasts from Bridgewater Associates executives estimate that automation could impact approximately 18 percent of all jobs within the next five years.
Rapid Industry Changes Displace Customer Service Workers
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that customer service roles, totaling about 2.9 million employees nationwide, are among the first sectors to undergo swift automation-driven restructuring. Yang warned that government-led retraining initiatives have historically failed to help displaced workers transition into sustainable new careers. He pointed to past efforts aimed at coal miners and warehouse staff as evidence that direct financial support offers more stability than federal job retraining programs.
In closing, Yang emphasized that federal legislators need to revise existing tax laws to ensure human workers can remain competitive as software agents continue to advance rapidly. Since current tax policies subsidize technologies likely to replace millions of jobs, he reiterated that establishing neutral and fair tax policies is critical to managing the ongoing digital transformation of the labor market. Legislative bodies are now reviewing proposals to address automation-related disruptions ahead of upcoming congressional sessions.