Ontario – An experiment with basic income buried away in Ontario’s 2016 budget

Guaranteed Minimum Income in Canada – Sharp increase in those favouring it

In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1406 Canadian voters, more than a third favour the introduction of a guaranteed annual minimum income to replace other state supports like social assistance, unemployment and pensions (36%), a sharp increase from the last time we polled this question four years ago … Continue reading →

Universal Basic Income – These things are utopian one expert says

Universal Basic Income gets all this attention and popularity, but I haven’t seen one model that’s even on the planet of financial feasibility. These things are utopian. Finland is conducting an experiment in giving every adult a check for €800 a month, which would require spending far more than what the government raises in taxes. Whatever … Continue reading →

A Basic income or Guaranteed Income for Canada – Would cost the treasury more than $500-billion a year

The Finnish example is typical of the fiscal folly. The Finns propose a monthly transfer of €800 ($1,200) a person, which sounds nice until you do the math and figure out this would require a doubling of existing taxes to fund the program. This transfer would barely replace what low-income Finns already get under their … Continue reading →

US – Universal Basic Income for everyone would add roughly $2.2 trillion to government spending

So let’s run some numbers. Paying all 322 million Americans $10,000 a year would cost $3.22 trillion. Proponents claim this can be paid by redirecting existing welfare programs, but a quick review reveals this as nonsense. All state and local government social welfare programs are around $500 billion, and programs such as food stamps (SNAP) … Continue reading →

The Dutch ‘Basic Income’ Experiment

Free cash is in the works for a growing number of Dutch urbanites. After the city of Utrecht announced that it would give no-strings-attached money to some of its residents, other Dutch cities are getting on board for social experiments with “basic income,” a regular and unconditional stipend to cover living costs. Tilburg, a city … Continue reading →

Guaranteed Income in Finland – Paying 800 euros ($1,165) each month and scraping all other government benefits

Finland’s government is drawing up plans to pay every citizen a basic income of euros 800 ($1,165) each month, scrapping benefits altogether.  Under proposals drafted by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela), the tax-free payments would replace all other benefit payments, and would be paid to all adults regardless of whether or not they receive … Continue reading →