by Will Wachtmeister | Aug 21, 2015 | News
From: www.patreon.com/scottsantens?ty=h
Scott Santens argues that there are sound economic reasons for introducing a basic income at exactly the same rate throughout the United States rather than taking into account America’s large cost-of-living differences.
Santens, a well-established basic income advocate, puts forward a case against the setting of different basic incomes according to location because, among other things, living in large cities brings with it an opportunity premium over “Small Town USA”. Basic income would grant all residents the free choice to enjoy this opportunity premium or move to a lower-cost area of the country, argues Santens.
He concludes by calling for a universal income set at “the same amount for all citizens, regardless of location, not only for all the economic reasons above, but because in the eyes of government, all citizens should be treated equally.”
Scott Santens, “Should the Amount of Basic Income Vary With Cost of Living Differences? The question of an unequal UBI.” Scottsantens.com, 7 August 2015
by Will Wachtmeister | Aug 20, 2015 | News
From: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociaal-Economische_Raad#/media/File:SERDenHaag.JPG
The influential Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands has quietly started an internal debate on basic income.
The official newsletter of the so-called SER (“Sociaal-economische Raad”, an official advisory organ composed of national employers and employee representatives as well as government experts) has carried two positive articles about basic income’s potential in recent months.
Dutch commentator Reyer Brons notes that given the SER’s semi-institutionalized influence over social policy design, the articles represent an important signal that BIG has “well and truly” made it onto the national political agenda.
Language DUTCH:
Reyer Brons, “Ook de SER noemt het basisinkomen.”, Netwerk Politieke Innovatie, July 6, 2015
by Will Wachtmeister | Aug 20, 2015 | News
From: www.foldvary.net
Economist Fred E. Foldvary puts forward an argument that basic income in the economy of the future should be based on sharing land rents equally, rather than taxing financial capital or capital goods.
Responding to an article in The Atlantic by Derek Thompson, Foldvary argues that if, under standard economic assumptions, all jobs are automated, landowners rather than capital-owners will be the big winners as the value of capital goods plummets and land rents are greatly boosted.
The solution is therefore to “equally distribute land rent as a basic income” and this would represent “the free-market rent-sharing triumph [of] leisure over labor,” argues Foldvary in his article on progress.org.
Fred E. Foldvary “There Will Always be Labor.” Progress.org, 9 August 2015
Derek Thompson, “A world without work.” The Atlantic, July/August 2015
by Will Wachtmeister | Aug 14, 2015 | News
The independent Liberal Party of the Netherlands (Vrijzinnige Partij) has promised to work up a national parliamentary motion in favour of a fully-fledged basic income for all Dutch citizens.
The political party formed in 2014 – which has a single parliamentary seat held by high-profile politician Norbert Klein – said that the growing number of local Dutch basic income initiatives represented no more than a welcome move toward condition-free benefits for claimants.
The party said it was high time that national politics took a serious look at a pure basic income for all citizens, adding that informal parliamentary channels to support the motion were already being established.
Norbert Klein, “De tijd is rijp voor het basisinkomen.” Trouw, 25 June 2015
Vrijzinnige Partij, “Tijd is rijp voor het Basisinkomen.” vrijzinnigepartij.nl 25 June 2015
by Will Wachtmeister | Jun 24, 2015 | News
From https://www.patreon.com/scottsantens?ty=h
Scott Santens responds to a widely publicized claim originally made in The Economist that basic income would entail a 60% rise in income tax and is therefore unaffordable. Santens lays out a step-by-step calculation which arrives at the conclusion that poverty-alleviating basic income would generate negative income taxes – i.e. tax rebates – for the overwhelming majority of US households.
Scott Santens “The Basic Affordability of Basic Income.” Huffington Post, 27 May 2015
