>guaranteed minimal income always reduces it Not necessarily - simply provide everyone, no matter their income level with the basic payment; that also decrease

>guaranteed minimal income always reduces it Not necessarily - simply provide everyone, no matter their income level with the basic payment; that also decreases the paperwork and the power of the bureaucracy to bully the recipients. Then, since everyone has the minimum to live on, have a fairly high, fixed percentage, income tax on all income. There would be no effects on the marginal utility of work, and shouldn't be too much on the average utility, provided the minimum really is only a minimum subsistence level.