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Basic Income is a subject that regularly surfaces in Soylent discussions, so here's a story about Finland's impending experiment with it:
Finland has become the first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587 US), in a unique social experiment which is hoped to cut government red tape, reduce poverty and boost employment.
Olli Kangas from the Finnish government agency KELA, which is responsible for the country's social benefits, said Monday that the two-year trial with the 2,000 randomly picked citizens who receive unemployment benefits kicked off Jan. 1.
Those chosen will receive 560 euros every month, with no reporting requirements on how they spend it. The amount will be deducted from any benefits they already receive.
The average private sector income in Finland is 3,500 euros per month, according to official data.
Also at The Guardian and swissinfo.ch.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 04 2017, @11:44AM
Fantastic concept, let's leverage this speculation and further inflate the bubble UBI proposes to keep from popping. I propose a flat 90% tax rate for all gainfully employed in order to fund this amazing, "free money" experiment. Comrades, are you with me?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 04 2017, @12:01PM
Let's tax Fuckerberg at 99% and pay people to post shit to Facefuck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 04 2017, @02:21PM
Would fairer than the current 0.005% taxes that these deep pocket corporations actually pay.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 04 2017, @02:27PM
Because if you had said to be taxed at 99.995% then that would be close to be as abusive as the actual taxes they are paying.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by fritsd on Wednesday January 04 2017, @12:47PM
Welcome to Sweden!
As a freelancer ("enskild näringsidkare"), my F-skatt = income tax + "employer-part of social premium" is taxed at 55%, IIRC. And then I don't mention the 25% Moms (VAT).
(I'm not very successful, so my income tax bracket is not very high like your joking comment, but it is painful that I have to pay full "employer-part of social premium" for my (bumbling) employee, me)
If you want a working society, it costs taxes. You get used to it, or leave; that's why Monaco [wikipedia.org] is full of nobs, and Gérard Depardieu emigrated to Russia, for example.
But not many people do. Funny, really: it's almost as if there are other important factors in a person's life, besides "The Economy"!
Only if you're too close to society's edge, money-wise, does it make a large difference. When you have to worry about the future (=next month), it diminishes your productivity and the risks you can take with your career(s).
There are several social effects of an UBI that might give some positive relief for that.
But, you'll have to suffer that other people who "don't deserve it as much as you", get as much money as you, PAID FOR BY YOUR TAXES. This is entirely a cultural factor, I believe, whether you accept that or not.
It also depends on whether you have an economic left-wing or right-wing party in government.
But if it is true what "I've read on the Internet" that less than 100 people in our world have as much money as the bottom 50% people on the planet, then it is difficult to argue that taxes are too high!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 04 2017, @03:20PM
(I'm not very successful, so my income tax bracket is not very high like your joking comment, but it is painful that I have to pay full "employer-part of social premium" for my (bumbling) employee, me)
Love that sentence. Salutes! I spent a few years self-employed. My employee worked his arse off, but my employer never had enough money to pay the employee what he deserved. It sucked, man!! We don't have your tax system, but our tax system seemed full of traps too. No matter what, the tax man was going to get his, and maybe a little more too!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 04 2017, @08:57PM
> I spent a few years self-employed. My employee worked his arse off, but my employer never had enough money to pay the employee what he deserved.
Easy to explain...small businesses take 5-10 years to establish a stable customer base. My tiny company, me and one contractor (in a high tax state) have been at it for 20 years now and we do just fine. We put in the hours, but not to the point of killing ourselves. We are not getting rich enough for a private jet, but we both own our houses and are putting money away for a rainy day. In the good years I take home more. In the slow years my contractor may be a little ahead of me--I'll fund "internal R&D" on speculation that customers might be interested when work picks back up.