A Study on the Introduction of AI Robot Tax

The development of AI robots leads to a decrease in tax revenue due to a decrease in earned income due to the loss of human jobs, an increase in social security costs for unemployment benefits and retraining, and furthermore, as the income gap widens, social problems caused by income inequality are worried about As a result, continuous discussions are being made in countries around the world about the introduction of AI robot tax, and Korea is also studying with interest in what AI robot tax is. Discussion on AI robot tax should start with what AI robots are and whether they can legally be taxpayers or subject to taxation. Depending on the definition, the taxation system of AI robot tax is quite different. First of all, a robot with artificial intelligence, that is, an AI robot, refers to an intelligent robot in which AI technology is applied to the robot. AI robots have abilities similar to humans to some extent. If the AI ​​robot tax is introduced because it replaces humans, it should be reviewed whether it will become a taxpayer with the same legal status as humans. To this end, AI robots must be recognized for their legal status under civil law. However, the current civil law does not grant AI robots the same legal status as humans. Therefore, it is still premature to tax AI robots as taxpayers under the tax law, that is, to impose AI robot taxes like income tax or corporate tax. If so, if robots are treated like automated equipment in industrial settings, AI robots will be subject to taxation. In response, there is an objection that taxing AI robots introduced for technological innovation may undermine the country's future competitiveness in industrial development and result in a violation of tax equity between the AI ​​robot industry and other industries. Therefore, even in order to solve these problems, it is important to set clear standards when introducing AI robot taxes. For example, the problem of how to set the tax base for AI robot tax must also be resolved. In other words, it depends on whether it is based on the number of workers who are fired if it is not the loss of employment of workers due to AI robots, or whether they are simply taxed as assets. Therefore, since it is too much to apply in the current tax law, it is desirable to introduce the AI ​​robot tax based on social consensus through continuous discussion.