[Oldeconomybuyer]

The latest on the "free stuff" train.

[central_va]

Tax freezies?

[Hostage]

If it’s recast as a universal sales tax credit for every qualifying adult, then I am for it. I am for it as long as state and federal governments decrease their size proportionately.

$1000 per month is too much. In Washington State the sales tax borders about 10%. A monthly income of $2500 is mostly spent, and if all is subject to sales tax it would pay about $250 per month in tax. $250 a month sounds about right.

But legislators will never vote for such a tax cut. Fine, they can give their reasons why and suffer the consequences. State government can reform its sales tax revenue to a funding level based on a net spending more than $25,000; in other words, first $25,000 of spending is excluded and is implemented by State EBT cards charged up monthly to a level of $250 as a tax credit. Foreigners, non-residents, tourists receive no tax credit.

Actually, Washington State is not doing as bad in government spending as is the federal government. It’s not good but the federal government level is where the focus needs to be.

If this UBI test is recast as a universal tax credit, the federal government is where the focus needs to be to implement it while the expense is offset by downsizing DC.

The five richest counties in the US are around Washington DC. Nearly everyone there is feeding at the federal government trough, either directly or indirectly. If half the people feeding there were cut off, no American outside the DC Metro Area would notice.

To be humane, make lump sum payouts for reductions in force and retirements, and help relocate them or transition them into work not connected to federal appropriations. Their home values will plummet so give them workout arrangements with their banks to sell their McMansions at a loss.

And repeal the damned 17th Amendment which will shut the lobbying firm revolving doors and put a large percentage of them out of business. The number of lobbyists has more than quintupled since Ronald Reagan’s 1986 Tax Reform. It’s time for downsizing them.

The DC Metro area needs about two decades of contraction while the area outside it in the private sector needs at least two decades of expansion.

Government service should be a duty and commitment, not a self-enrichment scheme.

Here’s how to repeal the damned 17th:

************************************************
AMENDMENT XXVIII (’Federal State Rebalancing’)

To restore the foundational structure of State Legislatures to Congress, the following amendment is proposed:

************************************************
Section 1.
Senators in Congress shall be subject to recall by their respective state legislature or by voter referendum in their respective state.

Section 2.
Term limits for Senators in Congress shall be set by vote in their respective state legislatures but in no case shall be set less than twelve years nor more than eighteen years.

Section 3:
The seventeenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

************************************************

[CincyRichieRich]

Trust me on this, pull up the free movie (sorry, it is Amazon) “Obsolete”, the creators of this movie said this would happen...no reason to work, billionaires don’t want anyone to ever challenge them and they know what is best for us since they have technologically made all jobs obsolete with robots and such...

[Flaming Conservative]

I imagine many of them will do what many current welfare recipients do -— sit on their butts and take it, insisting it’s their right, and making absolutely no effort to rise above their status and work for a living.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

And now, you capitalist conservatives are no longer allowed to say the government doesn’t create “jobs”.

I’ll just let that sink in...

[JudgemAll]

It will go to drugs and porn sites, garranteed.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Science fiction has predicted the “dole” for years and years. The proletariats subsiding for the pleasures of the elite in their ghettos and compounds, set aside behind fences in slums on a monthly allotment.

Control the allotment? Control their health care and transportation?

Control their hearts, their minds, and their stomachs. And their votes.

[Pollster1]

This is a shockingly stupid idea. People do not value, take care of, or use wisely what they get for free. We all know that. It’s better to give them make-work jobs than simple cash - guarantee the cash, but make them earn the money. I feel sorry for those who receive this hand out and are damaged by it.

There may be a few who don’t need it, don’t particularly want it, and will save it, invest it, or use it wisely. They will be unharmed and perhaps even helped, but they will be a small fraction of those receiving the “free” money.

[Chickensoup]

will they have to pay tax on it?

[bgill]

Hey, sign me up. I could use some help with high property taxes, rising utilities and health care.

[gaijin]

It used to be that the monopolist and communist were mortal enemies:

now they are friends.

[gathersnomoss]

Money for nothing and chicks for free.

[ctdonath2]

Link to proposal/study and discussion at Y Combinator’s equivalent of HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15304269

[little jeremiah]

I can guarantee it will do no good to 99% of the people it’s given to, and a significant percentage of people will be harmed - gamble it away, do more drugs, get lazier, etc.

[SisterK]

The overarching goal of this trial is to advance the debate about the future of work.

Working to support yourself as an option? This is so NOT Biblical.

[xrmusn]

Kind of reminds me of the old guy sitting on the park bench and someone walks by and said

“Say aren’t you Jim Smith?”
“Sure am”
“We went to high school together I heard you made a fortune building houses”
“Sure did”
“What happened, here you are looking like hell sleeping on a park bench”
“Well I made a fortune and spent it on drugs, booze, fast women and faster cars. Then I blew the rest of it”

[DoughtyOne]

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[raiderboy]

Communism fails every time. It is unfair for some to work and produce and parasites suck off that for free.it fails the fair test.!!!

[cpdiii]

If Marxism really worked I would be a Marxist. It does not work and leads to nothing but totalaranismsm, depravation and state sanctioned murder.