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The obvious, delete-all-the-code approach would be to leave more money in the hands of the businesses by lowering taxes. I'm a left-libertarian, so what I want to see is a basic income and low levels of regulation. Taxes can be high. I'm fine with that as long as it's spent on useful things (more cancer research, less war). The tax rate we pay in the US is about right. What we get for our taxes is disappointing. We should have universal healthcare, for example. The current system is expensive and doesn't work. You can tear out a lot of regulations if you have basic income in place. For example, you no longer have to support so many farmers with price floors. If market value for their produce declines, they're still OK; you don't get the cascading effect of rural poverty (1920s) that eventually impoverishes the whole society (1930s). I also support a flat tax. Morally, I'm okay with the concept of progressive taxation; but if we get our house in order with a basic income and a certain basket of always-provided goods (food, education, housing, and healthcare at affordable prices) then it really doesn't matter that a billionaire is playing 40% instead 70%. He'll, I'd be happy just to see the billionaires pay the percentage that I do! For example, I hate the concept of minimum wage. Before you conclude that I'm an asshole, hear me out. Without basic income, we absolutely need one. But what is a minimum wage? It's a clumsy basic income that's financed by low-end employers. How do they respond? They cut jobs. The good of a minimum wage (which, again, is essential if you don't have basic income) is that employers have an incentive to automate the lowest of the low in menial processes. However, you'd still have that incentive with basic income because people just wouldn't do low-yield, unpleasant work for next-to-nothing. Right now, poor people can't get a fair wage because they are fucked if they are jobless, giving employers all the leverage. Basic income allows the market to find a fair value for work. |
I haven't thought through a basic income well enough to render an opinion, but basic arithmetic skills are all you need to realize that minimum wage doesn't help unemployment numbers. We're definitely on the same page there.
[As an aside, my immediate gut-reaction to basic income is that I know a half-dozen people off the top of my head who would gladly just play video games 80 hours a week instead of delivering pizzas, so I am tempted to wonder who would be left to handle lower-end jobs if we had basic income? Not everyone is a workaholic like me.]