The argument is that it gets rid of as much of the bureaucratic nonsense. Say you send everyone a check, adjust income tax so it washes out at something like 2

The argument is that it gets rid of as much of the bureaucratic nonsense. Say you send everyone a check, adjust income tax so it washes out at something like 2x or 3x the base rate. No extra bureaucracy because your tax authority already has to to that, and at the same time you can same money on administration of a bunch of current programs (and get rid of them). Note that it clearly doesn't replace all programs. But UBI + universal health care of some sort would sure make a dent (US specific). There are valid critiques of UBI's viability but universality isn't one of them.