Hi Sally > There are, as you and Harry note, a number of ways a BI could be > established and financed in any given society (for example, see 'Tobin tax', > 'bit tax'). All would be challenging and would require political negotiation. > However, the most daunting challenge, in North America at least, is how to > persuade the thinking, voting public even to consider the merits of the idea.
To persuade people of BI, I think it is absolutely crucial to select the right way of funding, i.e. one that makes it clear from the start that BI is not just another trick to drain money from the middle class (which bears the whole system, after all), but that BI is a genuine re-distribution from the undeservedly very rich to those who are actually in need. Unfortunately, the BI movement seems to be dominated/hijacked by "deep pocket" interests who try to prevent exactly that, in order to perpetuate the status quo (misusing BI as a sedative to calm the masses, to prevent them from standing up for real change). "Tobin tax" and "bit tax" are wrong approaches. The "Tobin tax" legitimizes the destructive stock-market gambling and diverts small crumbs to the needy, but this "pocket change" actually comes from the middle class, not from the super-rich. The "bit tax" punishes the wrong people for the right behavior (Internet use), which is the opposite of what an incentive tax should do (punishing the right people for the wrong behavior). Good examples of BI funding sources are the Georgist land tax*, property tax (not income tax!), pollution taxes, junkfood tax, etc. Which already explains why the deep pockets oppose these funding sources of BI! * Or even better than just a tax: Nationalize all land and let the state lease it back to the occupants -- then the state would have enough money to abolish almost all other taxes! Cheers, Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
