Forgiving Student Debt Would Boost Economy, Economists Say

[applegrove]

8. I have always been an advocate of a negative income tax. That is a bit

Last edited Mon Nov 25, 2019, 11:46 PM - Edit history (1)

different than UBI. It is not universal. And if you are working poor you still get some income boost till you make a reasonable income. The rich would be the loosers in a UBI. I am assuming they would be taxed to pay for it. As they would be the lossers in a negative income tax too. And it would mean poor people would not have to put up with shitty jobs or abusives bosses as much. They would have a bit more power. For sure the UBI would unleash so much dreaming and aspirations too in individuals that would be good for the economy. But i don't think it should be universal. Problem is the rich in the US have decoupled from the poor. And when they pay 8% more in taxes their lives are not really changed to a degree. So the greater good of partially government paid tuition does benefit the country greatly as a whole. Problem is the country is not whole.

Negative income tax:

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNTKj9fVhSMFgB1OEkh6CrZ0mnhBAg%3A1574739804614&ei=XJ_cXaaYJdHA7gKtpIHAAg&q=negative+income+tax+example&oq=negative+income+tax&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.1.3.35i39j0l7.1567.2285..5148...0.1..0.225.1182.0j6j1......0....1.........0i71j0i22i30j33i160.ct42LDVmO6A

"SNIP.....

What is negative income tax? The negative income tax is a way to provide people below a certain income level with money. In contrast to a standard income tax, where people pay money to the government, people with low incomes would receive money back from the government.

Theoretically, this would work by giving people a percentage of the difference between their income and an income cutoff, or the level at which they start paying income tax. For instance, if the income cutoff was set at $40,000, and the negative income tax percentage was 50 percent, someone who made $20,000 would receive $10,000 from the government. If they made $35,000, they would receive $2,500 from the government. (This is different from a universal basic income in which everyone, regardless of income level, receives the same amount of money.)

This structure is designed so that people who work will always make more than people who don’t, which would ideally incentivize people to work. While someone who makes a little money — but not enough to pay income tax — will receive less from a negative income tax than someone who doesn’t make any money, overall, the person earning more will have more. The goal with a negative income tax is that no one is destitute, and earning even a small salary is always preferable to earning nothing.

The U.S. doesn’t currently have a negative income tax in place. It does, however, have the earned income tax credit, which functions similarly and benefits millions of Americans. That program generally has bipartisan support, and there is even legislation proposed to expand it.

....SNIP"