I don't think you understand my comment. The personal standard deduction is not "income tax"—it's the opposite of a tax. It's the amount of your income which i

I don't think you understand my comment. The personal standard deduction is not "income tax"—it's the opposite of a tax. It's the amount of your income which is not taxed. This system wouldn't even necessarily require progressive taxation (though I would favor it). A flat tax rate of even 40% could be more than enough to provide for BI and everything else (and everyone would receive their BI tax-free). It's very different from unemployment insurance because unemployment disappears once you start working. So there's no incentive to take on jobs which pay less than unemployment, or even to take on jobs which pay less than (unemployment + opportunity cost of working). It might be helpful to do some research on how taxes (particularly deductions and marginal rates) actually work.