The way Basic Income seems to me is that everyone (billionaire or poor) receives a monthly check from the government to cover very basic living costs, rent,food etc. It would replace current welfare programs. It wouldn't be opt in. I imagine in order to opt out then you could just give your check away to charity :-)
I give a small recurring payment to givedirectly.org, who converts charitable donations into unconditional cash transfers to the needy. They are also in the process of launching a larger experiment, voluntarily funded, of giving basic income to everyone in certain regions (and comparing the well-being of the recipients to others, who will not receive the subsidy). I'm a big fan of voluntary, unconditional cash transfers to the needy, and I'm curious to see the experimental results from the basic income trial.
After that, it goes off the rails, though. Everyone, including givedirectly, seems to want to use tax dollars to fund future programs (and everyone seems to be assuming that the experiment will produce positive results). I say, if it's a good idea, they can fund it through kickstarter.
Even if it yields positive results when funded voluntarily, it's a stretch to think those results will continue after the government bureaucrats figure out how to skim from it.
The way Basic Income seems to me is that everyone (billionaire or poor) receives a monthly check from the government to cover very basic living costs, rent,food etc. It would replace current welfare programs. It wouldn't be opt in. I imagine in order to opt out then you could just give your check away to charity :-)
I give a small recurring payment to givedirectly.org, who converts charitable donations into unconditional cash transfers to the needy. They are also in the process of launching a larger experiment, voluntarily funded, of giving basic income to everyone in certain regions (and comparing the well-being of the recipients to others, who will not receive the subsidy). I'm a big fan of voluntary, unconditional cash transfers to the needy, and I'm curious to see the experimental results from the basic income trial.
After that, it goes off the rails, though. Everyone, including givedirectly, seems to want to use tax dollars to fund future programs (and everyone seems to be assuming that the experiment will produce positive results). I say, if it's a good idea, they can fund it through kickstarter.
Even if it yields positive results when funded voluntarily, it's a stretch to think those results will continue after the government bureaucrats figure out how to skim from it.