A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is an unconditional minimum income provided to every member of society regardless of age, working status or level of income. The UBI seeks to maintain a functional market economy in the face of increasing technological disruption, unemployment, wealth inequality, and a hollowing out of the middle class. It would provide every citizen with enough income to cover the costs of their basic needs. Bettering one’s situation beyond this foundational amount is then the responsibility of each individual as usual. Most UBI proposals involve suggestions of significant reform of the welfare such as removing means testing and abatement of payments and many even include substantial overhaul of taxation systems.
A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is an unconditional minimum income provided to every member of society regardless of age, working status or level of income. The UBI seeks to maintain a functional market economy in the face of increasing technological disruption, unemployment, wealth inequality, and a hollowing out of the middle class. It would provide every citizen with enough income to cover the costs of their basic needs. Bettering one’s situation beyond this foundational amount is then the responsibility of each individual as usual. Most UBI proposals involve suggestions of significant reform of the welfare such as removing means testing and abatement of payments and many even include substantial overhaul of taxation systems.
Surely we can do no worse by fundamentally reconsidering the broken system that fails to meet the needs of so many to meet their families’ basic needs. Proponents believe that a Universal Basic Income might go a long way to achieving just that and has potential to be a significant game changing policy for the economic and social fabric of our nation. UBI is certainly no panacea and will need to be part of a comprehensive look at how we structure our society for a resilient future, however it certainly is one of the most promising proposals being seriously considered by establishment politics at this stage.
Comment to consider and vote on:
“NZ needs
a new system that better guarantees the welfare of the least
well off and those facing insecure work
conditions.”
Summary of the Comment Section
This section showcases different methods for selecting representative comments from a broader discussion (see the comment section below). For each method, the goal is to highlight a small set of comments that best reflect the conversation. They each approach this task from a different standpoint, emphasising different principles, such as popularity, representation or diversity (among others).
Show Advanced Controls
Popularity-Based Selection
Selection 1
Representation-Based Selection
Selection 2
Diversity-Based Selection
Selection 3