The government should give £10,000 to every citizen under 55, a report suggests. The Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) said it could pave the way to everyone getting a basic state wage. The idea sees two payments of £5,000 paid over two years, but certain state benefits and tax reliefs would be removed at the same time.
The RSA said it would compensate workers for the way jobs are changing. The money would help to steer 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.
The fund would be built from public debt, levies on untaxed corporate assets and investments in long term infrastructure projects, and be similar to Norway's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund. As the dividends would replace payments such as Child Benefit, Tax Credits and Jobseeker's Allowance, the savings for the government could also be ploughed into the fund.
I don't know, I can see why you'd get rid of jobseeker's allowance, but I would think if you have children you're still going to need extra benefit in addition to £10,000 per year.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43078920
I've been advocating this since 2008. It would eliminate so much poverty, boost the economy and ultimately be more cost effective.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your point (and I don't have exact figures to hand), £10k per child is more than the total sum of child benefit payments over 16 years (which is how long it would legally have to be held in trust) before the child can determine its use.
Will some parents abuse that? Yes of course. Doesn't mean most won't.
Simon B I'm not worried about people abusing the system : all systems are open to abuse, but UBI is one you can't really cheat in the conventional sense.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm concerned about is more the fundamental intent of the payment. UBI is often presented as giving citizens enough cash to live on without every having to worry that they won't have enough food, shelter and other basic needs to survive. Anything they earn on top of that provides a nice bonus. £10k is just about enough to do that, for an individual - but definitely not for anyone with kids though.
I suppose it depends more on the purpose of the payment than anything else. If it's just intended to make everyone's life easier, then I guess it's fine. If it's supposed to provide everyone's basic needs, then it doesn't work so well.
UBI is a subsistence payment. In most of the proposals I've seen kids are included (at reduced rates). The article doesn't describe a proper UBI of course, but seems to suggest the less well off would get £10k per applicant (so a single parent with 2 kids would get £30k in lieu of child credit and other tax breaks).
ReplyDeleteAhhh, I am being incredibly dense ! I misread 10k per child as 10k per parent with child. Obviously that changes the financial situation quite drastically. :)
ReplyDelete