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Jobs & SocietyRecord · blomfield-2026

Tom Blomfield

Founder and former chief executive, Monzo; group partner, Y Combinator

Why they matterFounder of one of the UK's largest digital banks and a prominent voice on AI's effect on white-collar work

Status
Open
Prediction made
2026
Predicted arrival
2031
Interval
5 yrs

I don't think we'll tax human labour, we'll tax compute, [meaning systems like] data centres, and then we will use the proceeds to pay for government.

Context

Speaking on The Rest Is Money podcast in April 2026, Blomfield argued that AI-driven automation would erode wage-based taxation to the point that income tax becomes redundant within five years, to be replaced by a tax on compute. He also claimed current systems are 'very narrow geniuses' that 'by the end of 2026 will be generalisable', and that professions such as tax accounting will require almost no humans.

This prediction is open: its target date has not yet passed. It is logged here because it has entered public discussion as a specific, dated forecast.

Source

AI will make 'income tax redundant within five years' The Telegraph (via Yahoo Finance)