Yes, that is one of the arguments put forth against UBI in the Intelligence Squared Debate on UBI [1]. Basically, the argument is that you'll never raise taxes

Yes, that is one of the arguments put forth against UBI in the Intelligence Squared Debate on UBI [1]. Basically, the argument is that you'll never raise taxes in the USA, so if you want to help the poor, you have to target the poor, not give half that money to rich people. If you're unable to raise taxes, which you very likely won't be able to, then you just end up taking money away from the poor. If you can raise taxes, you can rebalance the money given to the rich with a progressive tax making it essentially a Negative Income Tax AKA Mincome [2], but again it whether you'd be able to do it or not is a different question. [1] https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/universal-basic-income-safety-net-future https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/universal-basi... [2] http://i.imgur.com/JbnFDo5.gifv http://i.imgur.com/JbnFDo5.gifv