Quote:
Originally Posted by bizaro86
https://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/en/blog/ne...demie-covid-19
The PBO costs a universal basic income recently. It was set at 75% of low income threshold (so lower than the numbers being mentioned) and they assumed it would be reduced by other income at rates ranging from 15%-50%.
The estimates were $48-98 billion for a six month period. So even with clawback you are looking at $100-$200 billion per year. They also specified they didn't include any behaviour changes, and there would certainly be at least some at the margin. The total federal spending in 2018-2019 (to exclude covid effects) was only $278 B.
So the numbers bandied about in this thread probably imply doubling total federal spending.
|
And this is really the problem with UBI. No one has come up with a reasonable solution on how to actually fund a UBI. The CERB only works because it is a temporary measure and will not exist in perpetuity, and we luckily can borrow for nearly nothing so the cost is not astronomical. Until there is a reasonable discussion about funding how UBI could be sustainably done, then all talk about it is just hot air.