AI Economy & United States Tax Code

The singularity is here, or at least it feels like it. How AI will reshape the economy is still unknown, but many commentators have already concluded that the taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. system will require serious changes. Billionaires John Arnold and Mark Cuban have weighed in recently with ideas ranging from taxing labor at a lower rate than capital and taxes on AI-specific features like tokens and compute. The Economist’s recent coverage of the issue proposed a new fund to offset the costs of the economic transition for those impacted by AI tools.

Underlying these recommendations is a sense that AI will fundamentally alter the economy. Workers could be displaced. Resources could be strained. And some use these risks to argue that tax policy also needs to change.

We are skeptical.