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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1232 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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AI labor currently has a tax advantage over human labor. I ask an AI to spit out a tax proposal where AI tokens were taxed a similar rate to humans that make 100k in the US. It made AIs something like 18x-850x more expensive. Which would make AIs economically non viable.

I do still feel that the tax advantage for AI labor is still morally wrong, but I don't want to effectively ban them. Is that just me?

How would you try to structure taxes such that the advantage disappears, but the AIs remain viable?

Fun framing, but I think it proves too much.

Almost every technology has this advantage. Is a Roomba tax-advantaged over cleaning staff? Is a tractor tax-advantaged over farmhands? Productivity gains are good. If you tax them, you will get less of them.

Fair enough, if AI is merely a productivity enhancement tool we have nothing to worry about.

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