As a follow up to the article I posted earlier in the week about Universal Basic Income (UBI), I thought I'd discuss a report published this month by The Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). The report states that the UK government should give £10,000 to each citizen under 55, and it could pave the way to everyone getting a basic state wage. If you'd like to read the report for yourself, you can here.
The idea is for the government to make two payments of £5,000 over a two year period, but by claiming the "dividend", you would then not be able to claim certain other state benefits and tax reliefs. The reason for this is to try and discourage wealthy citizens from applying for this payout in favour of tax allowances. The payout would help to support UK citizens through the 2020s, "as automation replaces many jobs, climate change hits and more people face balancing employment with social care", the report said. These payments would not be means tested, and claimants would simply need to demonstrate how they intended to use the money.
The report states that the cost of this scheme would be in the region of £14.5bn a year, with over half of it being paid for by government savings. One interesting proposal for funding this scheme was a tax on companies such as Amazon or Google for using or transferring people's data. The UK economy is fairly stagnant lately, and this could be the much needed fiscal stimulus required to breath life into a troubled economy.
What do you think about this recently published report? Do you have any concerns regarding such a scheme? Let me know in the comments below, and as always make sure to follow me for the latest Cryptocurrency, Economics and general Pop Culture updates, Peace!
Source: RSA Pathways to Universal Basic Income Report February 2018 (https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/reports/rsa_pathways-to-universal-basic-income-report.pdf)