Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said the rise of artificial intelligence could force a rethink of capitalism, and even allow the U.S. to eliminate income taxes for tens of millions of people without losing revenue.
In a follow-up post on X late Monday, the Khosla Ventures founder argued that scrapping preferential capital-gains treatment and closing certain tax breaks could offset the loss from removing the bottom 125 million taxpayers from the rolls.
“Any economist (beyond ChatGPT) willing to help with the math?” Khosla asked.
Calls To Equalize Capital Gains And Income Taxes
Khosla said the government could be “revenue neutral” while eliminating taxes for lower-income households by taxing capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income and making other changes.
He also proposed removing what he described as “special interest goodies,” including tax-loss carryovers, master limited partnerships, and borrowing against unrealized gains without triggering taxes.
“These tax breaks are special interest goodies inserted by lobbyists and campaign contributions, not true capitalism,” Khosla wrote, adding that the changes could even increase revenue and allow “more concessions to labor.”
Links Proposal To AI-Driven Economic Shift
The comments came as part of Khosla’s broader argument that AI will sharply reduce the labor share of the economy and make expertise widely accessible at low cost. He has also repeatedly predicted a “hugely deflationary” AI economy by around 2035, with software and robots doing most economically valuable work and potentially automating roughly 80% of jobs over the next couple of decades.
He previously said the coming AI era could require fundamental changes to taxation, social safety nets, and the distribution of economic gains, including ideas such as universal basic income or public ownership stakes in companies.
Image via Shutterstock
Recent Comments