[A]...ug...so we're so committed to the word neoliberal meaning nothing at all that it's now just a synonym for centrist? If it's a synonym for centrist, why not just say centrist? This is what Orwell was talking about, y'all! You're just throwing out the word neoliberal to short-circuit critical engagement. "Neoliberal" equals bad, so rather than argue that something is bad, I can just call it neoliberal. This is argumentative shorthand that makes us dumber. You can't think of any reasons absent the cheap neoliberal label for why being a centrist is a bad thing?

[B] The robot tax is really just an argument for getting rid of payroll taxes (though maybe not a good one). Humans are expenses and robots are assets, so in the absence of payroll tax humans would be tax-deductible in comparison to robots. Or to put it another way, if a company uses automation to increase profits, then as long as they can't dodge too much of their tax burden, they would already be paying a robot tax. If we want to incentive hiring people so they have resources to enjoy their leisure time, we'll get more mileage out of closing corporate tax loopholes and unfair subsidies then we would get out of a robot tax (or--possibly--than we're getting currently out of a payroll tax--though I'm not really trying to make that a big thing right now).

I think it's a beautiful idea, hope for Hamon's ascendance, and thank you for speaking truth, CM: "You need lots of money to enjoy and not be oppressed by free time." Word.

@1, a). Neo liberalism is essentially the 20th century's grand bargain between those who demanded economic justice (the true left, not represented in any meaningful way here) and the fascists on the right, hence neo liberals are center(or center-right) by the standards of global political philosophy.