We have our own evidence of a basic income working in practice in New Zealand. Just look at universal superannuation: a government policy that has successfully reduced New Zealand’s rates of poverty in the over 65s to equal rates to those in Scandinavian countries. We saw a vulnerable group and a need and we implemented a successful policy based on the idea of providing a basic income.
We should be proud of that. While some argue that superannuation is a ‘return for tax paid’ the reality is that the tax paid by older people is long spent by the time they get to 65 on the basics like roads and schools and their healthcare. We should not minimise superannuation by calling it a return on payments made. Rather super is something we do as a ‘Good Society’; we use taxpayer dollars to support a segment of our population during what can be a vulnerable period of their lives.
Full Post at morganfoundation.org.nz