Publication type
Conference Paper
Series Number
Series
Social Policy Association Conference
Author
Publication date
June 30, 2009
Abstract:
Various systems of Citizens Income, also known as Basic
Income, have been proposed in a number of countries as a means of
simplifying complex tax and benefit regimes and eliminating the
poverty and unemployment traps. A major obstacle to the
implementation of these systems is cost, in terms of the marginal
tax rates which would be needed in order to fund them. Nearly all
proposals for CI involve flat rate payments to all adults,
regardless of their living arrangements; as well as increasing the
cost of the schemes, this involves a substantial redistribution
towards two-adult households. Using UK data with the EUROMOD
microsimulation model, this paper calculates and compares the
costs and distributional effects of (a) conventional CI systems at
different levels of payment, and (b) modified systems under which
couples receive a level of benefit lower than twice the benefit
payable to a single person.
#517596
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