Thank you! Lots of things for me to chew on and mull over here. One thing stuck out to me, though:
> The people who would receive the BI are the in the lowest income brackets.
As I understand BI, this is not true. BI is a payment made to every citizen and/or resident of a country, irrespective of any other consideration (including income, wealth, etc). What you seem to be describing is Guaranteed Minimum Income, which is an entirely different ball of wax. I'm now wondering how much of the discussion is people talking past each other because of conflation of these two terms.
All formes of BI are paid for with a tax, if your making say ~50k the money that tax equals the amount you receive from BI. But if your making 200k you end up receiving far less from BI than you pay in taxes even if there depositing money into your account every month.
PS: Of note BI is assumed to replace social security so someone making 50-80k may effectively pay significantly less in taxes prior to retirement but receive far fewer benefits in retirement.
Of note BI is assumed to replace social security so someone making 50-80k may effectively pay significantly less in taxes prior to retirement but receive far fewer benefits in retirement.
This is why I think BI doesn't have a very good chance in the US. The AARP is a very powerful lobby and their members wouldn't go for a reduction in benefits after retirement.
Do you have voluntary contribution schemes for retirement in the US? e.g., That $80k retiree could've been pumping money into investments designed to top up their BI once they retire?
Yes, there are a number of voluntary, tax-privileged retirement savings options, some of which may only be provided by employers, but not all employers provide (e.g. 401k/403b).
> The people who would receive the BI are the in the lowest income brackets.
As I understand BI, this is not true. BI is a payment made to every citizen and/or resident of a country, irrespective of any other consideration (including income, wealth, etc). What you seem to be describing is Guaranteed Minimum Income, which is an entirely different ball of wax. I'm now wondering how much of the discussion is people talking past each other because of conflation of these two terms.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_income