NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / — During a CNBC interview on Tuesday, Forward Party co-founder Andrew Yang emphasized the need for a systemic overhaul from payroll taxes on humans to direct levies on artificial intelligence. Yang expressed concern that current federal tax incentives favor automation, putting millions of jobs at risk, and called on policymakers to balance the fiscal responsibilities between human workers and algorithmic systems.
Yang pointed out that existing tax regulations require employers to shoulder substantial payroll taxes and healthcare costs for human employees. In contrast, companies utilizing artificial intelligence models face no comparable labor taxes, thereby reducing operational expenses associated with automation. Noble Mobile’s CEO emphasized that the current legal environment implicitly incentivizes corporate leaders to accelerate automation across major sectors of the economy.
Andrew Yang Warns About Subsidizing Technology That Will Displace Millions
Yang proposed a strategic policy shift to move fiscal burdens from human payroll taxes toward automated compute tokens and AI-based revenue streams. He referenced recent remarks by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who suggested a 3 percent revenue tax on generative AI deployments, arguing that taxing interactions with automated software offers a practical way to regulate market dynamics. Yang believes revenue from an artificial intelligence tax should be redistributed directly to citizens as universal cash dividends, instead of funding legacy retraining initiatives.
This policy discussion unfolds amid rising economic concerns over workplace automation in the U.S. A joint survey by CNBC and Generation Lab found that 45 percent of young Americans aged 18 to 34 believe artificial intelligence will harm their long-term career prospects. Additionally, macroeconomic studies by Bridgewater Associates estimated that automation could disrupt about 18 percent of all domestic jobs over the next five years.
Job Losses in Customer Service Show Industry-Wide Rapid Change
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that customer service departments nationwide employ approximately 2.9 million workers, marking one of the first sectors experiencing swift automation restructuring. Yang warned that federal retraining programs have historically fallen short in helping displaced industrial and administrative workers transition into new careers. He pointed to past initiatives aimed at coal miners and warehouse workers as evidence that direct financial support provides more stability than federal job retraining efforts.
Yang concluded that federal legislation must be reformed to ensure human workers can compete economically alongside rapidly developing AI systems. As current tax policies subsidize technology that could eliminate millions of jobs, he stressed that establishing neutral tax frameworks is critical for managing the ongoing digital transformation of the labor market. Legislative proposals are currently under review by policy experts ahead of upcoming congressional sessions to address automation’s impact on employment.