I
have become intrigued with a concept known as "guaranteed minimum
income". Everyone would be guaranteed, by the government, to make at least
a certain reasonably subsistence level of income.
If
you make more than that amount, that's great. But if you make below
it, or indeed don't make anything at all, the government will pick up the
difference.
The
result would be that nobody would be really poor, and those who wanted
more could still work to become richer.
The
good news is you would then eliminate almost all social welfare programs and the
cost to the bureaucracy to run it . However, the cost savings doesn't quite
make up for the amount which the government would have to pay out, so taxes
would have to be raised. Still we should be a rich enough country
to afford doing it.
This
isn't a completely new idea ( Google it), but it's' time may be coming,
especially for a rich country like ours.
I
know , it sounds like fantasyland but it's worth thinking about.
Eric
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