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comment by Fallexe
Fallexe  ·  3211 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Dutch cities to experiment with universal cash benefits

You're right - that's why I prefer a negative income tax. One big problem with UBI is you give out money to people who don't need it. Negative income tax doesn't have this problem.

The USA doesn't have a true negative income tax, but there is an earned income tax credit that behaves the same way, but only for people with jobs. It was put in place under the Clinton administration and seems to have been a success at reducing poverty. Politically, it might be easiest to focus on expanding this program. A compromise might be struck with budget deficit hawks by cutting other welfare programs that are less effective.