Guaranteed income nice in theory but not feasible
Posted Jan 6, 2015 7:29 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The idea of a guaranteed annual income for adults is a nice one, but it’s not a plausible one.
That’s according to the Fraser Institute’s latest report, issued Tuesday.
Associate Director of Tax and Fiscal Policy Charles Lammam says current income boosting programs cost governments in Canada about $185 billion annually; one-quarter of the country’s economy.
He says a standardized income to replace those programs could save money on administration, but it’s not likely to happen.
“What would actually need to happen for us to do away with all of these programs and collapse them into just a single guaranteed annual income program; it seems very unlikely for that to happen in practice,” he explains.
He says all levels of government would have to come together to work out all the details, and that’s a very rare thing.
