In the September 2026 issue of International Taxation, Liu Qichao and Shen Tao survey the tax reform options that have been proposed internationally for artificial intelligence. AI, they argue, is changing the tax base, the logic of revenue raising and the redistributive function of taxation through labour substitution, concentrated capital returns, the rising value of data and algorithms, and heavier energy consumption. The proposals fall into several families: robot, automation and computing-power taxes on AI use; digital services, token and floating-point-operation taxes on AI consumption; capital income taxes, special AI gains taxes and net wealth taxes on AI-related returns; excess profit taxes, excess-return clauses and equity-sharing taxes on supernormal profits; energy excise, earmarked education and data taxes for negative externalities; and even the idea of treating AI as a taxable person. The authors stress that the choice cannot be reduced to taxing or not taxing, nor confined to technical design; direction, instruments and sequencing must follow the pace of technological and social change.
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Frontier explorations and institutional thinking on tax reform in the AI era
The September 2026 issue of International Taxation carries an article by Liu Qichao and Shen Tao surveying global tax reform proposals for AI. Through labour substitution, concentrated capital returns, the rising value of data and algorithms, and higher energy use, AI is changing the tax base, the logic of revenue raising and redistribution. Proposed instruments range from robot, automation and computing-power taxes to digital services, token and floating-point taxes, special AI gains taxes, net wealth taxes, excess profit taxes, data taxes and even treating AI as a taxable person. The authors insist the choice is not simply to tax or not to tax, and that direction, instruments and sequencing all matter.
2026-11-06