Comments on: Basic income: a human rights approach https://neweconomics.opendemocracy.net/basic-income-human-rights-approach/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=basic-income-human-rights-approach Tue, 11 Sep 2018 13:16:34 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3.4 By: David Burton https://neweconomics.opendemocracy.net/basic-income-human-rights-approach/#comment-931 Thu, 04 Jan 2018 15:04:00 +0000 https://www.opendemocracy.net/neweconomics/?p=1755#comment-931 Many on the Liberal side, including myself, also see a fundamental value, even imperative, towards the Universal Basic Income. There are some challenging decisions around taxation levels, what qualifies as an adequate level of income, whether it is varied by region to prevent ghettos of very cheap property with few jobs and forcing unemployed out of wealthier areas like London, and so on. However, the merits would not just be reducing the numbers struggling to feed themselves but a simplification of the system to more clearly support the sick, disabled, mentally ill along with those inevitably displaced by technological changes like autonomous vehicles.

There will be a proportion who do not wish to work, but while there is not full employment the question is how to fill the jobs available, and you could argue that it makes more sense for a company to hire those that want to work than those that don’t, leaving little benefit to pursuing penalties for not trying to get work. The reward should be in terms of having a higher income, and at present there are certain times where there is little to no benefit due to multiple benefits being withdrawn and a universal payment would avoid that.
In general it would likely be supported by a higher level of income tax and withdrawal of the tax allowances. After all, the current personal allowance is about helping ensure low-income workers have enough to live on and this would be providing that instead. The basic tax rate would probably need to be somewhat higher as well, along with the top rate of tax, and should probably aim to be fairly neutral in terms of overall cost. High earners would almost certainly be expected to pay a somewhat higher share.

The major risk would seem to be that of a population explosion, where unemployed numbers grow significantly faster than productivity to support them. Automation again may be necessary to support this – as Japan is exploring with its relatively older population. However, there may also need to be some consideration of limits to discourage large families. For example, if universal basic income is available from birth then a non-working couple could choose to have many children and live in an only slightly larger home, using the per-capita housing cost savings to have a more comfortable lifestyle. This would be something of a perverse incentive. However, not providing any income for children could fail to provide reasonable support for families under the plan. What’s then the right option? Limiting the number of under-18 recipients in a household? Reducing the basic income for children?

Universal services would be one answer – ensuring a meagre flexible allowance but providing accommodation options, soup kitchens and other facilities at no cost. We’ve some way to go before we can advance that, though, since we struggle to rehouse the homeless in a timely manner already, not to mention how we’ve fared at providing for the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. A start might be to look at providing parts of this, though – free subsistence fare like a soup kitchen, provided by the government, which may help the working poor, struggling families, the homeless and impoverished students while building a framework for something more grand. I don’t have a particular problem with having a proportion who choose not to work. However, accommodation may be a more difficult issue to resolve, just as it is now, with many workers priced out of London for buying their own home while a lucky few on benefits have council properties in areas that few workers can afford.

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By: Stephen Stillwell https://neweconomics.opendemocracy.net/basic-income-human-rights-approach/#comment-719 Wed, 08 Nov 2017 04:53:00 +0000 https://www.opendemocracy.net/neweconomics/?p=1755#comment-719 Hi Alex, note that you speak of human rights, but consider a basic income, ‘given’

A simple rule for international banking will include each in the process of money creation, distribute to each adult human on the planet an equal share of the interest paid on global sovereign debt.. all the money

This will not be given by a government, but earned as income from a secure sovereign trust account, holding a limited right to loan money into existence, exclusively to finance secure sovereign debt

Fiat currency is an option to purchase labor from any who are required to accept the money in trade

Fiat currencies are loaned into existence, governments, banks, those who control and own them, charge option fees as interest on the non existent money, for accounting, and to assure the value…

..the inequity in this is that governments nor banks own our labor to offer such an option…

..the interest paid to create money, to rent the option to purchase our labor, rightfully belongs to each

Each provides the full faith and credit supporting fiat currencies, and is ultimately responsible for the debt created

This is a human right, to be paid through banks, not governments, that governments must borrow their fiat currency from each, and the value of money will be equally supported by the pledge of cooperation from each

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tralfamadoran777, https://medium.com/@stephenstillwell?source=linkShare-46143b2857b6-1510116805

Thanks for your kind indulgence

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