Bernie Sanders never met a tax he didn’t like.  Everyone must pay his “fair share” (perish the ambiguous thought), and that includes robots.

A few years ago, Bernie proposed a new tax on robots — not because he doesn’t like them, but because he wants everyone to benefit from their unfailing work ethic.

Now he’s at it again.  In his socialistic paradigm, A.I. and robots must benefit everyone, not just the dreaded billionaires.  To help reach this pie-in-the-sky goal, the robots must be taxed to the hilt.  Actually, that goal is more likely achieved through productive private property (including intellectual property) rather than austere bureaucrats isolated from the marketplace in their cozy central planning bureaus.

Robots are representative of our innovative tech titans, who are transforming the way we live our lives — often for the better.  A.I. engineers are working to the point of burnout as they develop the transformative technology.  Tesla, for example, predicts that the vast proportion of its future revenues will be attributed to their dexterous Optimus robots, which are powered by advanced A.I.

There are numerous philosophical precepts and real-world examples contradicting the tenets of socialism, but let’s agree on this: We all want to accrue the maximum benefit from robots (and A.I. generally) for the maximum number of people.  Taxing them will not do this.  Although there are unavoidable overlaps, for the sake of liberty and prosperity, economic and government centers of power should be separated as much as possible.  Preferably, their relationship is more symbiotic than adversarial.

Concentrating economic and political power in government is not the path to prosperity.  It is the path to hellish totalitarianism.  Remember — absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Imagine a bunch of Bernie clones with no business sense divvying up the economic booty.  It’s a nightmare scenario that reminds one of the Domesday Book.  Instead of redistributing land from conquered to loyal barons, Bernie’s book aims to take from the robots (and ancillary A.I. sectors) and give to the socialist tax collectors for their swampy projects.

Bernie is a socialist doomsayer.  His proposed robot tax may slow their progression, but potentially beneficent robots are marching inexorably into our everyday lives.  It’s advisable that we train them to be man’s newest best friend; it’s inadvisable to overtax them.  As Margaret Thatcher wisely said, “the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”  You also run out of innovative, wealth-creating ideas.  Overtax the robots, and they may revolt.

Image via Unsplash.