When AI automation shrinks the payroll tax base, what fiscal tools can replace traditional income taxes to fund UBI?
Relying solely on income taxes becomes impossible if machines do the bulk of the work. When humans stop earning high wages, the traditional tax pool dries up. To sustain a Universal Basic Income, governments must pivot toward taxing the source of production rather than the labor itself. This requires moving away from human effort and toward capital and consumption.
One primary lever is an automated value-added tax (VAT). By taxing every transaction across the supply chain, the state captures a slice of the wealth generated by every automated production cycle. Another option involves a
