Taxing Robots or Artificial Intelligence

This paper intends to replace the debate about the current situation with regards to the taxation of robots and to summarize the main legal arguments in favor of a robot tax. In particular, since so far robots as such do not have an economic ability to pay, at least under the current state of law, the justification of a robot tax should clearly distinguish between taxing the use of robots on the one hand, and robots as such on the other hand. A more recent argument in favor of taxing robots as such has also emerged with a view to keep the integrity of the tax system and to fight against tax avoidance and fraud. In any event, the implementation of such proposal would require an international coordination.