Universal Basic Income Could Be Coming for Kids
(cross posting from the Economy Group)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/111690287
By Greg Ip
Entrepreneurs, intellectuals and presidential candidates have in recent years touted “universal basic income,” a cash stipend to everyone with no strings attached, as the answer to poverty, automation and the drudgery of work. It has never gotten off the ground in the U.S. Instead, something similar in spirit but cheaper and more practical may be in sight. Both President Biden and Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) have proposed significantly expanding the child tax credit and dropping many of its restrictions, in effect turning it into a near-universal basic income for children.
The main aim of their proposals is to reduce child poverty, which is higher in the U.S. than in most advanced countries. Both would slash the number of children in poverty by around 3 million, or a third, according to the Niskanen Center, a center-right think tank. In the process, it may also become the only major benefit in the U.S. that achieves near universality—testing traditional American notions of the safety net. “It would be a huge change in how we think about delivering benefits,” said Elaine Maag, principal research associate at the Urban Institute.
Federal benefits usually require the recipient to meet some criterion of need: poor (for food stamps, welfare and Medicaid), unemployed (for unemployment insurance), working or looking for work (the earned-income tax credit and some programs with work requirements), or disabled (Social Security Disability Insurance). Only Social Security and Medicare approach universality: Almost all elderly are eligible. While some 90% of households with children qualify for the current child tax credit, many don’t get the full $2,000 because they don’t owe enough tax. At most, they can receive back $1,400 more (the refundable portion) than they owe.
Mr. Biden’s plan, as detailed in legislative language unveiled by House Democrats last week, would boost the credit to $3,600 for a child under 6 and $3,000 for a child aged 6 to 17 and make it fully refundable, meaning even a parent with no income would receive the full amount. The boost would start to phase out for individuals earning $75,000 a year and couples earning $150,000. The remainder would phase out starting at incomes of $200,000 a year for individuals and $400,000 for married couples, as it does under current law. Mr. Romney would raise the credit for children under 6 even more, to $4,200. He would match Mr. Biden’s $3,000 for older children and start phasing out the full amount at $200,000 a year for individuals and $400,000 for couples. He would also replace the current earned-income tax credit, which is more generous for people with children, to a standard amount per family.
(snip)
Almost as important is how the plans are administered: Both Mr. Biden’s and Mr. Romney’s proposals would pay the credit each month, instead of once a year when the recipient files his or her taxes. Mr. Romney goes further by entrusting the job to the Social Security Administration, which already sends monthly checks to Social Security beneficiaries. Mr. Biden would leave it to the Internal Revenue Service.
More..
https://www.wsj.com/articles/universal-basic-income-could-be-coming-for-kids-11613574528 (subscription)
= new reply since forum marked as read
So either immigrants or procreation. And Social Security and Medicare are funded by working people.
Yes, this has been some of the unintended results of the stimulus and unemployment payments. Many did not bother to return to their low paying jobs.
Just the harsh facts of life
The rich need to pay a lot more.
