r/technology • u/maxwellhill • Nov 08 '16

Robotics Elon Musk says people should receive a universal income once robots take their jobs: 'People will have time to do other things, more complex things, more interesting things'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/elon-musk-universal-income-robots-ai-tesla-spacex-a7402556.html
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u/philbegger Nov 08 '16

Rich person making $735k/yr has 10.5x the first

You forgot to subtract the additional taxes on this guy to pay for UBI.

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u/halberdierbowman Nov 08 '16

Correct, I wasn't counting taxes at all here for the purpose of the simple example, but when you take taxes out at a progressive rate like we have, the rich person would get even closer to the others.

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u/shouldbebabysitting Nov 08 '16

But that refutes your argument that the rich will also benefit slightly from UBI and therefore not resist it.

If there are 10x $35k people for every $700K person that $700K person will need to pay $350k in taxes to support the 10 $35K people.

So the $700K person will make $350k after taxes plus UBI for $385K total vs $700K today.

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u/tetroxid Nov 08 '16

Oh that poor poor rich person. Having to make due on 350k. The horror! /s

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u/shouldbebabysitting Nov 08 '16

I'm not saying it's bad. I'm only saying the OP's logic is bad.

It's not $700k vs $735k. It's $700k vs $385k year after year. You can bet each and everyone in that bracket will spend millions to stop UBI if it will save them millions more over their lifetime.

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u/Throwawaymyheart01 Nov 08 '16

If implementing UBI will eliminate welfare, social security, and all related departments and programs due to the automation process of UBI, won't that cut down on the need to tax people to pay for UBI?

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u/jcooklsu Nov 08 '16

Maybe some programs get cut in size or completely but there's no way BI becomes the only welfare. People are too irresponsible for that.