How a Universal Basic Income Would Affect Poverty | Demos

How a Universal Basic Income Would Affect Poverty | Demos:

 "To be sure, a basic income is not a program that specifically targets the impoverished. As I wrote last week, the total number of dollars needed to bring every impoverished person above the poverty line is something around $175 billion. By not targeting the money directly at the poor, the basic income costs quite a bit more to achieve any given amount of poverty reduction.

But one of the real charms of the basic income is precisely that it is not targeted. This ensures that poor people who receive it do not have to concern themselves with the possiblity that they will lose it if they work more. It also likely means there will be a larger political constituency behind it, just like Social Security has."