Taxation is a response to the economy. So if the economy changes, so should taxation.
Also - if corporations succeed in becoming completely independent of labor, it will happen regardless of taxation. We shouldn't say to corporations "you must hire people or else we won't have a tax base". We should say to corporations "since you no longer require humans, we will change the way taxes are applied."
A century or more ago, they could see how rapidly productivity was increasing. It's only increasing yet faster now. Economists then predicted people would have enormous leisure time. While they have significantly more, it's not like we have abandoned work. Instead those productivity benefits go increasingly to shareholders and not labor.
So we will soon face a precipice that will disrupt the status quo. And the people will eventually triumph because collectively we are the governed.
Corporations already pay income tax, as do the investors in those corporations. Ultimately someone gets the cash from corporate dividends and stock buy-backs. Just because productivity increases (i.e. corporations are able to generate higher profit with fewer employees) doesn't imply any need to change taxation.
> Corporations already pay income tax, as do the investors in those corporations.
Of course!
> Just because productivity increases
Yeah I guess I'm taking a leap here where robots replace human manual labor and artificial intelligence replaces intellectual labor and there's no role for human labor anymore.
What's the just thing to do in this case? In my opinion, it's not "well we should really be committed to the existing rules because it's worked out well so far." If humans exit the workforce, the way governments work should change to answer such a significant change.
Also - if corporations succeed in becoming completely independent of labor, it will happen regardless of taxation. We shouldn't say to corporations "you must hire people or else we won't have a tax base". We should say to corporations "since you no longer require humans, we will change the way taxes are applied."
A century or more ago, they could see how rapidly productivity was increasing. It's only increasing yet faster now. Economists then predicted people would have enormous leisure time. While they have significantly more, it's not like we have abandoned work. Instead those productivity benefits go increasingly to shareholders and not labor.
So we will soon face a precipice that will disrupt the status quo. And the people will eventually triumph because collectively we are the governed.