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There are other approaches though – you could charge a sales tax for all purchases and institute a universal rebate, which would have the same effect with the a
by matthewmacleod 10y ago
There are other approaches though – you could charge a sales tax for all purchases and institute a universal rebate, which would have the same effect with the addition that people underneath the spending threshold would have an effective negative sales tax rate.
- phkahler 10y agoThat still requires keeping track of all purchases.
- hx87 10y agoOnly the consumer needs to do so in this case, not the government, and if you don't keep track of your own purchases, no problem, you just don't get the rebate.
- AstralStorm 10y agoTracking purchases requires time and skill, both of which are often lacking in the poorest. Rich would hire a person to do it. (and also to game the system)
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- hx87 10y agoIt requires saving and organizing receipts and doing basic arithmetic. Surely even the poorest can do at least that?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- andrewaylett 10y agoNot really, no. Or rather, the ability to do that is not so much tied to wealth as education and upbringing: you have to be functionally literate and numerate in order to do that, and many of the people who would need the most support aren't. Many more have the basic numeracy but lack the background to plan finances at all. The UK government recently changed the way they pay rent for people with housing benefit. Instead of direct to the landlord they pay a lump each month, while rent is typically due weekly. Many have fallen into arrears as a result: they didn't want to be given the money, and they don't know how to deal with having a balance in their account that they must budget. Perhaps you might consider someone unable to cope with that change unworthy of support, but when there's a whole class of affected people I don't think it's helpful to write them off as a group, rather than trying to understand the reason why they find it hard and trying to set up the system to mitigate those difficulties -- just like if your users fail to understand a feature in your project, you'd be wise to redesign it to be usable. Only with somewhat higher stakes.
- matthewmacleod 10y agoMaybe I wasn't clear – rebate doesn't need to be connected to purchase amount. A flat, fixed-value rebate serves a similar purpose if it is appropriately set, and individuals who don't meet a particular threshold will receive more money through rebate than they pay in sales tax.
- phkahler 10y agoNow you're talking about UBI - universal basic income, in the form of that rebate. That model doesn't work either.
- matthewmacleod 10y agoSure, UBI is fairly equivalent. Why doesn't that model work?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- kahnpro 10y agoWhy? You could just provide an scaling rebate based on income and average spending. Or a flat rebate for anyone under an income threshold.
- phkahler 10y agoProving "average spending" to the government is going to require informing them of all your purchases - which is what I was complaining about and you were supposed to refute. You also brought income back into the picture, followed by UBI.