The $3.8 trillion question

Universal basic income, rolled out across the U.S., would cost $3.8 trillion annually, or 21% of the nation’s gross domestic product, if every American citizen were to receive $12,000 a year (the current threshold for poverty), according to a July 2018 paper, " Primer on Universal Basic Income ," by Ray Dalio, co-chair of American investment-management firm Bridgewater Associates.

How to pay for all of that? Proponents of basic income have offered numerous ideas: a progressive income tax or a wealth tax; a carbon tax; or, as is done in Alaska, dividend distribution from the sale of natural resources.

Doing away […]

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