> you still need to find someone who will employ you Not necessarily. Negative income tax is one way to implement means-tested basic income. One way to implem

> you still need to find someone who will employ you Not necessarily. Negative income tax is one way to implement means-tested basic income. One way to implement a NIT is you have a cutoff point (e.g. $20,000/year) and a rebate rate (e.g. 50%). So, using the above rate, if your income is... (a) $0/year ... you get $10,000/year (b) $10k/year ... you get ($20k-$10k) x 0.5 = $5,000/year (your total income is $15k/year) (c) $15k/year ... you get ($20k-$15k) x 0.5 = $2,500/year (your total income is $17.5k/year) (d) $20k/year and up ... you get nothing --- > you don't get any benefit if you are above the threshold so it's not universal It's not universal in the sense that not everyone gets the government check, but it's universal in the sense that the same rule is applied to everyone.