It could work if they stopped with the income test bullshit. That's the whole point to it; it's free money whether you work or not, just for being a Canadian. If it's needs based, it's a social program.
If you work a full time job, even if it's McDonald's, people shouldn't be making choices between buying healthy food and paying rent. The government has given basically free mortgages to the wealthy, pushing up housing costs for everyone as everyone bids with the bank's almost interest-free money on houses.
Instead of curbing UBI after working a certain amount, they should simply make it like normal taxable income that doesn't decrease and adjust the income brackets higher so people don't get jobbed in the transition. You shouldn't be punished for working hard to put yourself through college/university and get into an upper bracket, and someone at McDonald's shouldn't be forced to use their 50% food discount to make ends meet.
It could work if they stopped with the income test bullshit. That's the whole point to it; it's free money whether you work or not, just for being a Canadian. If it's needs based, it's a social program.
Except you can't get rid of the income test "bullshit". At some point your income has to start getting clawed back as taxes to pay for the UBI. Get rid of the $0.50 per dollar clawback, and instead you just increase tax rates above $38,000, it's the same thing - the money still has to come from the people who work more.
Everyone would be pushed up an income bracket, there would be no personal deduction of 10 grand because everyone will be making more than that threshold. You would be pushing minimum wage workers into a higher tax brackets and they would pay more taxes as well. If you give the 'stimulus' money to the paycheque-to-paycheque crowd, they are highly likely to spend that money locally, stimulating local economy and pushing up business tax revenue.
Obviously, UBI isn't revenue-neutral, but you could eliminate social programs, transfer payments etc if the government has everyone on a minimum dole. It's the wealthy people that we have to worry about spending the money abroad, not the people living off of McDouble meals.
It could work if they stopped with the income test bullshit. That's the whole point to it; it's free money whether you work or not, just for being a Canadian. If it's needs based, it's a social program.
If you work a full time job, even if it's McDonald's, people shouldn't be making choices between buying healthy food and paying rent. The government has given basically free mortgages to the wealthy, pushing up housing costs for everyone as everyone bids with the bank's almost interest-free money on houses.
Instead of curbing UBI after working a certain amount, they should simply make it like normal taxable income that doesn't decrease and adjust the income brackets higher so people don't get jobbed in the transition. You shouldn't be punished for working hard to put yourself through college/university and get into an upper bracket, and someone at McDonald's shouldn't be forced to use their 50% food discount to make ends meet.
Except you can't get rid of the income test "bullshit". At some point your income has to start getting clawed back as taxes to pay for the UBI. Get rid of the $0.50 per dollar clawback, and instead you just increase tax rates above $38,000, it's the same thing - the money still has to come from the people who work more.
Everyone would be pushed up an income bracket, there would be no personal deduction of 10 grand because everyone will be making more than that threshold. You would be pushing minimum wage workers into a higher tax brackets and they would pay more taxes as well. If you give the 'stimulus' money to the paycheque-to-paycheque crowd, they are highly likely to spend that money locally, stimulating local economy and pushing up business tax revenue.
Obviously, UBI isn't revenue-neutral, but you could eliminate social programs, transfer payments etc if the government has everyone on a minimum dole. It's the wealthy people that we have to worry about spending the money abroad, not the people living off of McDouble meals.