Basic monthly income

Switzerland is considering paying each adult about $2500usd each month whether they work or not. Each child in the household would get about $750usd per month. History shows that if someone is paid money without working for it, this discourages most, but not all, from working. People won't work if they don't have to.

So let's take a look at US welfare spending for poor people, ignoring corporate welfare for the moment, and Social Security which is supposed to be for retirement. Let's make a plan where when people are under age 65, they get the "basic income", and when they reach age 65, the basic income stops and SS starts.

Let's calculate the US adult population only from this source at Census.gov:


 * 1) US Population in 2016: 324 million
 * 2) 24% are under age 18, so 76% are adults.
 * 3) Adults = 324 million * .76 = 246.24 million adults

From this page, here's the current welfare that would be cancelled. This money would be used to fund basic income.


 * 1) Medicaid: $609.5 billion
 * 2) Other welfare (this includes unemployment payments): $462.2 billion
 * 3) Total: 1071.7 billion or $1,071,700 million dollars.
 * 1,071,700 million dollars / 246.24 million adults = $4352.26 dollars per year from the welfare budget. 4352/12 = $363 per month could be paid to US adults per month if the current welfare budget was converted to basic income.

$275 per month is hardly enough to live on. So to meet the $2500usd per month we would have to increase taxes on every adult by $2137 per month.

Taxes are produced in various ways but taxing income is the largest source of federal tax. So if someone is not working, they do not get income, and cannot be taxed. So Basic Income will not work as the current Welfare budget does not cover $2500 per month.

Total revenues/taxes must increase by $2137 for every adult every month, working or not. $2137 increase needed per month * 246,240,000 adults = $526,214,880,000. That's $526.21488 billion more is needed every month to cover $2500 per month Basic Income. Where will the money come from? More taxes on people who work. Now if I don't have to work, and I'll get free money for not working, but I'll get taxed at very high rates when I do work, I'm not going to work. It's not worth my time.

Has poverty been reduced?

 * 1) Since 1959 poverty has been reduced but since 2000 poverty rates have gone up a bit. For their claim to mean anything, the person making the statement must give a starting year where they compare poverty to today.
 * 2) Poverty was falling until huge social programs came online. The social programs increased taxes, reduced jobs, and increased poverty. Here are poverty rates since 1958 plus recessions marked.
 * 3) Black family poverty graph from 1967-2014. Poverty increased for black families since 2000.
 * 4) Since social programs began around 1965, the children born out of wedlock has steadily increased.