My understandng of UBI is that everyone gets it, rich or poor, working or not, there will be no unemployments benefits, disability benefit, or old age pensions.
In 2025 to 2026 the UK is forecast to spend £334.0 billion on the social security system payments. This will partly cover the rollout of UBI.
There will be no tax on UBI and you still get even if you work.
The "the lazy bastards wont want to work if we give them free money" crowd are wrong.
Currently people at the bottom of the lower socio-economic classes really struggle from one day to the next. They are not living, they are surviving. The evidence shows that those same poor people will work, because the extra money they earn will lift them out of poverty.
currently, if someone in the UK is claiming benefits, they are not allowed to work, if they work they commit fraud and lose their benefits. Hence, people are trapped in the benefit system. They are poor if the work and they are poor if they claim benefits.
The rich and business will have to pay more to support the structure.
The volunteer sector will thrive. I loved working as a volunteer. I did it for 10 years as a psychotherapist offering my services for free.
UBI, I hope will provide us with a pathway back to equality, civility and humanity.
This really does seem like a possible way forward to me. I had the advantage of taking a few years off of work, and I was able to pursue a lot of interesting venues I never would have if I had the continuous stress of rent going on. I gained a much stronger sense of myself as a being outside of just being a "worker". I helped others, built relationships, and moved some research forward. It was a societal net positive for me to NOT work.
Imagine the groundswell of what so many disadvantaged people could do if they weren't just working to survive - how many people could actually come online, and turn their attention towards other problems, or live healthier lives. In the neurodivergent community many can't reach the demands of steady work consistently enough to stay employed, yet they're often some of the most competent when actually on.
What is the most telling I think is how many zero-sum IQ-superiority-complex eugenicists out there who truly have never faced or considered the levels of adversity people not like them go through every day. This empathy gap and denial of shared humanity is the most dangerous meme of our species.
In 2025 to 2026 the UK is forecast to spend £334.0 billion on the social security system payments. This will partly cover the rollout of UBI.
There will be no tax on UBI and you still get even if you work.
The "the lazy bastards wont want to work if we give them free money" crowd are wrong.
Currently people at the bottom of the lower socio-economic classes really struggle from one day to the next. They are not living, they are surviving. The evidence shows that those same poor people will work, because the extra money they earn will lift them out of poverty.
currently, if someone in the UK is claiming benefits, they are not allowed to work, if they work they commit fraud and lose their benefits. Hence, people are trapped in the benefit system. They are poor if the work and they are poor if they claim benefits.
The rich and business will have to pay more to support the structure.
The volunteer sector will thrive. I loved working as a volunteer. I did it for 10 years as a psychotherapist offering my services for free.
UBI, I hope will provide us with a pathway back to equality, civility and humanity.
fingers crossed