This has been my primary question about UBI: if landlords know that everybody has an extra $1000 per month, what stops them from raising rent by exactly that amount?
My biggest concern with UBI is that it would be great for a couple of years, and then the greedy fingers of capitalism would find a way to start clawing it back. I don’t see how UBI works without including a bunch of protections to keep the newly financially stable populace from being exploited again.
For the record, I don’t think it is a bad idea—I want it to be a good idea and I would benefit from it.
I just don’t trust corpo America to let us normies experience an increase in our quality of life without it putting a target on our backs.
I’m glad to hear about the rent cap. Does that apply to new developments as well? Could somebody tear down an old apartment and build new ones at double the cost?
I’m not trying to slam UBI or interrogate you, I’m genuinely curious. I just have a natural resistance to getting my hopes up after watching nearly every other proposed social program in my lifetime turn out to be varying shades of bullshit.
Oh no. We’re going to have to fight. The idea that we won capitalism in the 80’s and 90’s seriously set us back. We’re going to have to fight and keep fighting our entire lives.
Because not everyone has an extra $1000 a month. The median working person’s tax will increase to the point that the UBI is wiped out (and high earners will find their tax burden more than it is now). This is how it works. It’s not free money on top of your existing money. It’s a barrier at the low end preventing money from going below a certain level.
I see, so it sort of scales where they take some or all of the UBI back in taxes based on your income? Would the tax evasion that is common with the ultra-rich thwart this design?
And if only the poorest demographic has the extra $1000, then wouldn’t that concentrate potential price increases in low income neighborhoods?
Thank you for answering my questions and feel free to tap out whenever, I just haven’t had the chance to ask anyone about this who seems to have done any real research on it.
Well the ultra rich don’t really pay a level of income tax that reflects their wealth anyway, but even if they were actively trying to fiddle things any amount of UBI would be but a rounding error in their finances. For the actual rich, nothing short of a wealth tax will do.
As for the second question, possibly. Although UBI does replace benefits, and I’d wager most low income neighbourhood are already using those benefits to top up landlord retirement funds anyway. UBI is as much about letting people have the money without making them balance it on their nose first while praising the glorious taxpayers that fund it.
This has been my primary question about UBI: if landlords know that everybody has an extra $1000 per month, what stops them from raising rent by exactly that amount?
My biggest concern with UBI is that it would be great for a couple of years, and then the greedy fingers of capitalism would find a way to start clawing it back. I don’t see how UBI works without including a bunch of protections to keep the newly financially stable populace from being exploited again.
Because we’ve already capped annual rent increases and stood up a special part of the DOJ to prosecute any price cartels.
UBI doesn’t answer every problem. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea.
For the record, I don’t think it is a bad idea—I want it to be a good idea and I would benefit from it.
I just don’t trust corpo America to let us normies experience an increase in our quality of life without it putting a target on our backs.
I’m glad to hear about the rent cap. Does that apply to new developments as well? Could somebody tear down an old apartment and build new ones at double the cost?
I’m not trying to slam UBI or interrogate you, I’m genuinely curious. I just have a natural resistance to getting my hopes up after watching nearly every other proposed social program in my lifetime turn out to be varying shades of bullshit.
Oh no. We’re going to have to fight. The idea that we won capitalism in the 80’s and 90’s seriously set us back. We’re going to have to fight and keep fighting our entire lives.
Because not everyone has an extra $1000 a month. The median working person’s tax will increase to the point that the UBI is wiped out (and high earners will find their tax burden more than it is now). This is how it works. It’s not free money on top of your existing money. It’s a barrier at the low end preventing money from going below a certain level.
I see, so it sort of scales where they take some or all of the UBI back in taxes based on your income? Would the tax evasion that is common with the ultra-rich thwart this design?
And if only the poorest demographic has the extra $1000, then wouldn’t that concentrate potential price increases in low income neighborhoods?
Thank you for answering my questions and feel free to tap out whenever, I just haven’t had the chance to ask anyone about this who seems to have done any real research on it.
Well the ultra rich don’t really pay a level of income tax that reflects their wealth anyway, but even if they were actively trying to fiddle things any amount of UBI would be but a rounding error in their finances. For the actual rich, nothing short of a wealth tax will do.
As for the second question, possibly. Although UBI does replace benefits, and I’d wager most low income neighbourhood are already using those benefits to top up landlord retirement funds anyway. UBI is as much about letting people have the money without making them balance it on their nose first while praising the glorious taxpayers that fund it.
Thank you, I learned some things today.
Nor does anyone else.
Income tax reflects income. It has zero relationship with wealth/net worth.
EDIT: lmao even the most basic factual statements get downvoted when they’re inconvenient to the narrative, huh guys?