Abstract While some have declared that short-term guaranteed income demonstrations (patterned on universal basic income schemes) are working almost universally, such cheerleading misses a major drawback: the enormous costs that would arise if such programs operated at a national level, as proponents intend. This report reviews the costs of some recent proposals to operate such national guaranteed income programs, which stretch into trillions of dollars per year and are generally layered on existing welfare and related programs. Without even considering such proposals’ other negative effects, they are impossibly expensive, requiring massive new federal debt or taxes—or both. Read the PDF. Introduction It’s hard not to notice the proliferation of guaranteed income (GI) programs—generally small, more targeted versions of universal basic income (UBI) schemes—popping up around the country (Ford 2023). These “demonstration” programs offer a relative handful of recipients guaranteed monthly checks, with no strings attached, on top of other government benefits. But the proliferation of these local programs masks an important fact few supporters are willing to discuss, much less quantify: Such small-dollar UBI-like programs, if expanded nationwide as supporters intend, would cost trillions of dollars, making them utterly unaffordable without equally massive tax increases. Read the full report. References Albani-Burgio, Paul. 2022. “Palm Springs to Put $200,000 Toward Transgender Income Pilot but Council Reservations Remain.”
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