4차 산업혁명에 따른 생산구조의 변화와 조세정책：로봇세의 도입

Abstract

[Purpose] With the development of the robot industry due to the fourth industrial revolution, it is forecasted that workers with simple and repetitive tasks will lose their jobs. Therefore, it is necessary to guarantee basic income for workers replaced by robots to prepare for the forecasted unemployment and subsequent decline in consumption. The basic income system is one of the welfare systems, in which the state guarantees a certain amount of basic income to all citizens regardless of the current status of their families, jobs, and assets. Even if the basic income system is an essential system for ensuring the basic livelihood of the people, it cannot be implemented if the financial problem of funding is not overcome. Funding for the basic income system is necessary from the robots that contribute to it. This is what we call a robot tax. [Methodology] In order to look at the possibility of introducing robot taxes, appropriate measures should be sought according to the development stage of artificial intelligence. In this study, we distinguish the developmental stages of artificial intelligence based on the historical distinction of evolution according to Kurzweil (2005). [Findings] The first stage is an era of human superiority, and robots are a type of mechanical equipment for productivity improvement. At this time, it is possible to impose automation taxes, withdraw tax preferential policies, and impose acquisition and property taxes. The stage of robots with equal intelligence to human is a stage where mass unemployment can occur realistically because robots can easily replace humans. During this time, robots have a human status with autonomy, so it is possible to give a personality for taxation. In other words, it is possible to recognize the ability to pay tax as an independent person and directly tax value－added tax or income tax. [Implications] In preparation for the timing of recognizing the robot’s ability to cover taxes, it is necessary to consider the development of tax policies and the development of robots at the same time and determine the appropriate taxation type. This study presented the direction of tax policy change and the basis for future tax policy establishment by organizing the taxable types applicable to the development stage of robots under the current tax system.