by BIEN | Nov 14, 2015 | News
The word unemployed changed to employed on torn paper
Kevin Boyd, an associate policy analyst at the R Street Institute, authored a post directly comparing the negative income tax, a variation of the basic income guarantee, to traditional welfare and the minimum wage. Boyd contends that a negative income tax would avoid the potential for job loss and price hikes caused by the minimum wage while avoiding the pitfalls of the current welfare bureaucracy. Boyd advocates for an income threshold set at 130% of the poverty line, which would amount to a guaranteed minimum income of $30,711.20. W-9 forms would be collected monthly and payments would be calculated each month based on the previous month’s income. Paired with the abolition of the minimum wage, Boyd believes that unemployment can be greatly reduced without an increase in poverty thanks to the negative income tax.
For the entirety of Boyd’s post, see
Kevin Boyd, “A negative income tax beats both the minimum wage and welfare” R Street Institute, September 12, 2014
by Tyler Prochazka | Aug 27, 2015 | News
U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in her first Facebook question and answer session on July 20, was asked about her feelings regarding the Negative Income Tax. Her exchange with an editor at the Huffington Post did not directly answer whether she would support a negative income tax.
The premise of the question came from Clinton’s earlier skepticism toward the “gig economy”, which includes services such as Uber and Airbnb. The questioner, Alexander Howard, implied that one solution to the increasing prevalence of these types of services as well as greater automation of labor may be a negative income tax.
“I certainly don’t have all the answers. But we have to resolve these questions while embracing the promise and potential of these new technologies and without stifling innovation or limiting the ability of working moms and veterans and young people to get ahead,” Clinton said.
While Clinton did not directly endorse the idea of Negative Income Tax, her answer did highlight some of the purported features of a Basic Income Guarantee, such as untying the benefit to one’s employer.
“On the issue of benefits, the experience of the Affordable Care Act shows that we need to make sure people have access to benefits and that they are portable as they move from job to job,” Clinton said.
How Clinton would prefer to operationalize this concept, however, is left unclear at least in her Facebook Q&A. Clinton is not the first candidate to be asked about a Basic Income Guarantee. Her rival in the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders, said he is “sympathetic” to this approach.
Karl Widerquist, “UNITED STATES: Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, “absolutely sympathetic” to basic income approach.” BIEN, July 28, 2015.
by Andre Coelho | Jun 3, 2015 | Research
Red Renta Basica. Article “Negative Income Tax em Portugal”
Abtract:”The NIT – Negative Income Tax – is a wealth redistribution system. It works through a tax which reaches for a part of the richest population wealth and distributes it through all others, in an automatic and unconditional fashion. This means no questions asked and no job seeking requirement, but also without introducing a disincentive to work.
This study is a simulation over such a tax in Portugal, in its present day conditions. This tax would be the actual labor tax with some changes. From the simulation with labor tax working this way in a “closed circuit” and a 50% tax on each citizen’s income over 7000 €, it would be possible to guarantee to all adult Portuguese citizens a monthly income of at least 300 €.
Comparing to present day values, this simulated tax represents an increased taxation on the highest incomes. But this tax can be set at any other level, which conditions how much redistribution will occur.
NIT will turn several State social benefits obsolete. Eliminating these programs will relieve public spending by an amount around 70% of what is presently collected with labor tax. Furthermore, the NIT challenges present day public programs for employment and support in unemployment. These programs are based upon the idea that jobs are the source of income for citizens, which means that if those incomes can be guaranteed by other means, then the former can be eliminated, total or partially. This can save public treasury up to more than present day labor tax collection.
The NIT is also associated with solidarity and social cohesion, which naturally will clash with maintaining large incomes and pensions for a minority, as it supports dignified income for all as a human right. This can lead to ceiling caps on pensions, which will liberate even more public funds.
Finally, NIT will reduce poverty and, proportionally, its weight on public funds, in terms of health costs, security costs, among others.
Miguel Horta (2015), “Negative Income Tax in Portugal [Negative Income Tax em Portugal]“, Red Renta Básica, April 24 2015
by Toru Yamamori | Feb 20, 2015 | Research
The Adam Smith institute, self-describing as being ‘at the forefront of making the case for free markets and a free society in the United Kingdom,’ recently drew attention to desirability of a Negative Income Tax, by reclaiming the 1970s experiments on it in USA.
Ben Southwood, “We’ve actually tried negative income taxes, and they seem to work ” Adam Smith Institute, November 6, 2014.
