[jonkelly]

Great reply. I'm reminded of a recent New Yorker article about the poverty bureaucracy in NYC. Can't remember the exact details, but one of the recipients talks about how much they could do with the amount the city spends on them per month to put their family in some gov't run hell-hole.

I'll add that many free-market economists are strong supporters of the basic income, especially vs. a minimum wage (Milton Friedman supported a negative income tax). The advantage of the basic income is that it's very simple and there are no mathematical gymnastics needed to neither discourage work or produce a very high marginal income tax rate as you leave the NIT. Lastly, the basic income makes it easier to abandon the income tax entirely and move to consumption based taxation.

[gizmo686]

>Lastly, the basic income makes it easier to abandon the income tax entirely and move to consumption based taxation.

How so?

[dllthomas]

While I wouldn't make the claim, one argument I see is that it balances the regressiveness that a sales tax typically exhibits.