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If you were to implement the Fair Tax, which includes a stipend for basic needs, you'd get bipartisan support as well Poe's Law is pinging.
by mmanfrin 11y ago
If you were to implement the Fair Tax, which includes a stipend for
basic needs, you'd get bipartisan support as well
Poe's Law is pinging.
- chadzawistowski 11y agoI think the comment was earnest. Check out this article: http://www.vox.com/2015/4/2/8332115/rubio-lee-basic-income http://www.vox.com/2015/4/2/8332115/rubio-lee-basic-income It's called the FairTax, and it would replace nearly all federal taxes with a 30 percent national sales tax. That on its own is a regressive idea — low-income people spend more of their incomes than the rich do, so would pay a greater share of their incomes in sales tax — so the FairTax would give each household a "prebate" equivalent to the sales tax they'd pay on poverty-level spending. For example, in 2013 the FairTax "consumption allowance" for a family of four (two parents, two kids) was $31,020. If you spent that much money in a FairTax world, $7,135 of it would go to federal sales taxes. So the FairTax provides a $7,135 annual rebate to families of four, distributed monthly. Make no mistake: this is a basic income. There is no work requirement. You get it regardless of whether you make any money. It is a straight-up basic income. FairTaxers object to this characterization, saying that because the prebate is meant to compensate for taxes you pay on necessities, it's "your money being returned to you." But if you live below the poverty level, you come out ahead from the rebate. It's just a cash transfer program.