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> A negative income tax is a progressive tax system that starts off in the negatives and works itself up as you move up in brackets or (ideally) on a smooth cur
by mbesto 9y ago
> A negative income tax is a progressive tax system that starts off in the negatives and works itself up as you move up in brackets or (ideally) on a smooth curve or line.
But if UBI says you get $30k/year in gross income and then if you choose not to do UBI, then you pay taxes on your income, isn't that essentially the same thing? Because if you get $30k/year in income from UBI, it wouldn't make any sense to tax an income that comes from taxes...right?
- WorldMaker 9y agoSome theories of UBI believe UBI may only work if it is taxable income. Those theories include some sort of assumption that the defining characteristic of a fiat currency is it's value to pay taxes, so the way to control (hyper-)inflation is continue to set the value of the currency in tax policy. From that perspective the taxable portion of the income becomes a "year long loan" and that loan amount is useful to set expectations (versus interest/inflation) on the value of the overall UBI.