US: Basic income presidential scorecard (Update)
Probably for the first time in US history, the basic income is becoming an issue in the presidential election. Most of the candidates have already made their positions known. Two candidates, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, appear to be the most supportive of the basic income. Although, Stein recently said basic income is a “visionary goal” and not something she is going to push as part of her agenda.
Hillary Clinton
The candidate said she is “not ready to go there,” but she would expand the earned income tax credit. She said distributing money without producing income is not something that “works for democracy and I don’t think it works for most people.”
Gary Johnson
Johnson said he was “open” to the idea of a Universal Basic Income based on its ability to save bureaucratic costs. Johnson directly supports the FairTax, which has a basic income component in the form of a prebate.
Jill Stein
UPDATE: On a recent CNN interview, Stein said guaranteed minimum income is a “visionary goal and not one of the practical goal posts of our agenda.”
“(Guaranteed basic income is) not something I’m willing to move forward at this point,” she said.
Donald Trump
Trump has not commented on the basic income. Requests for comment from the campaign were not returned.
