> If you take the dollars targeted on people in the bottom fifth or two-fifths of the population and convert them to universal payments to people all the way up

> If you take the dollars targeted on people in the bottom fifth or two-fifths of the population and convert them to universal payments to people all the way up the income scale, you’re redistributing income upward. Not discussed is the old Milton Friedman policy of a negative income tax, which I think would play well with conservatives. This looks the same as a UBI for low-income, and you can make it phase out continuously so there are no cliffs providing disincentives to start work at the margins. Personally I think this is the most viable form of UBI in the US, since we already have the tax infrastructure to get the reporting on who earns what. (Bonus points for combining this program with automatic tax filing so normal employees don’t need to send anything to the IRS, they just get the check/withholding appropriate to their earnings.)