Who would pledge 10% of their income to distribute as basic income? There is no need to wait until politicians implement it. We can start immediately.

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Income tax in Canada, where I live, is already 15-33%.

It's already horribly mis-spent. If it went up, I'm pretty sure the country would riot.

[–] trailing9@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago

That's why politicians won't implement UBI. But you can do, as a private person. Other countries pay much more taxes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax#/media/File%3APayroll_and_income_tax_by_country.png

[–] Twoafros@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

This is a really interesting idea. Are there any case studies where this has been tried?

[–] JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Isn't that one of the five pillars of Islam?

[–] sheogorath@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Zakat? It's only 2.5% (can be up to 20% depending on what school of thought you follow) and it's not distributed to everyone. There's only a subset of people who are eligible in receiving zakat so it's not UBI.

Although there can be a lot of things that can make someone require to pay zakat, like income, wealth, business assets, and others.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

OK, total personal income for the US is 21 trillion so you've raised $2.1t. 260 million adults. That's about $8000 each. Can you live off that? I'm not sure I could and I own my home outright.

If it's not enough to live off, it's not UBI.

[–] MiddleWeigh@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

8000 a year? That would be a huge help. Like it would alleviate almost all of my burdens.

[–] InvaderDJ@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

When they live off, I think they mean is that enough to where you could live on that and not work. And the answer to that is no/not well in the majority of cases.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 1 points 2 years ago

With no other income at all?

The point of UBI is that you could just live off that if you were frugal.

Everybody gets it of course, but you'd lose 10% of your current wages too. Everyone under $80k would be better off, everyone over that would be worse off.

The thing with UBI is that you'd lose all other state benefits too. Pretty much anything means tested would go and be replaced with one payment that everyone gets.

[–] trailing9@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

People live off one dollar per day.

The most expensive part is medical insurance. That has to come down to international standards. 300 dollars a month should be enough.

You need food from a central kitchen, about 1 dollar per day.

That leaves 4000 dollars for rent, clothing, phone and other expenses.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That leaves 4000 dollars for rent

I think you can work out the next flaw in the plan for yourself.

[–] trailing9@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

You call it flaw, I call it obstacle.

If you look outside the US, you can get housing for a price that leaves enough of the 4000 for other expenses.

The easiest option is to connect some barren land to a city center with public transport in a climate zone that doesn't need much insulation. But that just as a proof of concept. More clever options can be realized.