OTTAWA - The government's fiscal watchdog says a guaranteed basic income program at the federal level could cut poverty rates in Canada by up to 40 per cent.
As someone in a high income bracket, I’d gladly pay more in taxes in exchange for a low-overhead direct equalization program such as UBI.
Something that’s always bothered me about these discussions, however, is how it always seems to be treated as a binary choice. As if they only two options are to do nothing or flip on the UBI lightswitch. But this is IMHO stupid given the way economies work. Something like UBI would take 3-5 years to fully influence the economy, and anyway, economies tend to do better with stable long-term changes rather than sudden shocks.
So, if it were me, I’d instead implement a UBI program like so:
Create a crown corporation similar to the Bank of Canada
Mandate the crown corporation to set UBI rates with an eye out for the health of the economy and the population
The UBI rate would imply a rate of taxation as well as set forth monthly payments to every Canadian citizen after deducting some (externally audited) operating budget (which should be relatively low given the program will never be means-tested)
Begin UBI with some small-value sum such as $50/mo per person—enough to look nice hitting people’s accounts, enough to make a real difference to the poorest of the poor, but not enough to realistically cause economic problems
Let the Crown corp adjust the UBI rate yearly and have collection handled by the CRA at tax/paycheck time
In my opinion, if the government did something like this, we’d have a long-lasting program that is agile enough to adapt to economic conditions or things breaking along the way. There is likely a sweet spot for UBI similar to that of an interest rate, and we’d be able to find where that line is empirically, without having to risk serious shocks to the economy, inflation due to supply chain shocks, etc.
I would expect such a program would gradually increase over the span of 10-30 years until basic needs like food and shelter are covered for everybody, but luxuries and “comfortable” lifestyles remain out of reach for those who are out of work. But, if I am wrong, it wouldn’t matter anyway… the UBI rate would just wind up settling higher or lower according to the needs of society.
Go look up the Roosevelt Institute’s study on UBI if you want a solid take on the strengths and weaknesses of UBI. Do not read Andrew Yang’s summaries of it as he miscategorizes the data.
As someone in a high income bracket, I’d gladly pay more in taxes in exchange for a low-overhead direct equalization program such as UBI.
Something that’s always bothered me about these discussions, however, is how it always seems to be treated as a binary choice. As if they only two options are to do nothing or flip on the UBI lightswitch. But this is IMHO stupid given the way economies work. Something like UBI would take 3-5 years to fully influence the economy, and anyway, economies tend to do better with stable long-term changes rather than sudden shocks.
So, if it were me, I’d instead implement a UBI program like so:
In my opinion, if the government did something like this, we’d have a long-lasting program that is agile enough to adapt to economic conditions or things breaking along the way. There is likely a sweet spot for UBI similar to that of an interest rate, and we’d be able to find where that line is empirically, without having to risk serious shocks to the economy, inflation due to supply chain shocks, etc.
I would expect such a program would gradually increase over the span of 10-30 years until basic needs like food and shelter are covered for everybody, but luxuries and “comfortable” lifestyles remain out of reach for those who are out of work. But, if I am wrong, it wouldn’t matter anyway… the UBI rate would just wind up settling higher or lower according to the needs of society.
Go look up the Roosevelt Institute’s study on UBI if you want a solid take on the strengths and weaknesses of UBI. Do not read Andrew Yang’s summaries of it as he miscategorizes the data.