Basic income is a concept that is starting to gain popularity across the globe. Universal basic income or UBI is a form of social security in which all citizens or residents of a country receive a regular, unconditional sum of money, either from a government or some other public institution, independent of any other income. The debate around UBI has sharpened dramatically in the recent years as automated machines take more and more human jobs, and according to recent polls, support is growing for UBI in a number of places.
Here in the USA there are some big names in business and tech currently supporting the Idea in the USA: Pierre Omidyar, Andrew Ng, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Bill Gross, Ray Kurzweil, Albert Wenger, Tim O'Reilly, Chris Hughes, and Mark Zuckerburg.
On June 15, Hawaii state representative Chris Lee wrote a Reddit post about House Concurrent Resolution 89, a bill he says he introduced in order to "start a conversation about our future." According to Lee, "After much work and with the help of a few key colleagues, it passed both houses of the State Legislature unanimously." This makes Hawaii the first state in the US to start down the path of adopting basic income.
A 2012 affordability study done in the Republic of Ireland by Social Justice Ireland found that basic income would be affordable with a 45 percent income tax rate. This would lead to an improvement in income for the majority of the population. Charles M.A. Clark estimates that the United States could support a Basic Income large enough to eliminate poverty and continue to fund all current government spending (except that which would be made redundant by the Basic Income) with a flat income tax of just under 39 percent.
It may be awhile before the average US citizen starts seeing a monthly check in the mail from the Government but the research and current polls suggest that the topic of a universal basic income is becoming much more widely accepted. As a cultural sciences researcher, I understand the positive impact that basic income can have on the stability and quality of our culture and I fully support a universal basic income.
