Barbados Today
December 21, 2021 12:21 PM Subscribe
Govt plans universal income for all - "It appears that the Government is moving ahead with a plan to provide Barbadians with a universal basic income, which may come in the form of a 'citizen's dividend.'"[1]
-Speech: Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados at the Opening of the #COP26 World Leaders Summit
“Despite all the pressure from international agencies to ‘target’ we hold the line on universality. That’s why we restored free tertiary education for all. International studies have shown this is critical to social mobility and opportunity. The less well-off cannot take on the payments, risk and worry of getting heavily in debt to secure their future.-Barbados declares Rihanna a national hero during republic ceremony
“It’s also why we created the new Business Interruption Benefit for self-employed National Insurance Scheme (NIS) members, giving them some basic income support for the first time even without them having a standard employment contract. The Government is reviewing all NIS benefits to make sure they are relevant to modern work and that all continue to view the NIS as their social security system and not just those in traditional employment.”
Persaud also spoke to the Government’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, which he said will own all of the Government’s assets and the administration will “make them work for all Barbadians”... “Barbados’ highly innovative reverse tax credit, introduced by the Owen Arthur Administration – the envy of many developed countries – was the first [foray] into a universal basic income. That was long the objective. Under the reverse tax credit, if your income is not above some basic level, the Government will top it up with a payment or reverse tax credit. This is one of the practical ways a developing country could quickly get to the universal basic income.”
-Speech: Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados at the Opening of the #COP26 World Leaders Summit
- Barbados bids farewell to British monarchy, becomes republic - "Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason was sworn in before dawn on Tuesday [11/30] as the island marked its 55th anniversary of independence from Britain. 'As cautioned by our first prime minister ... we ought no longer to be found loitering on colonial premises,' she said. 'We must seek to redefine our definition of self, of state, and the Barbados brand, in a more complex, fractured and turbulent world. ... Our country and people must dream big dreams and fight to realize them.'"
- Rihanna named a national hero of Barbados: 'May you continue to shine like a diamond' - "When Mottley presented Rihanna, she noted that the pop star came from humble origins and was born less than a mile from where the ceremony was taking place."
- 'It Didn't Stop Rihanna...': History-Making Prime Minister Mia Mottley Has Monumental Plans For Barbados - "As she leads Barbados towards republicanism, charismatic Prime Minister Mia Mottley talks to Gary Younge about shaking off its colonial past and rewriting the future."
- The case for a universal basic income - "The coronavirus pandemic has opened the door to radical economic reform... A no-strings regular cash transfer to everyone could shake up the welfare system, bring new economic security, and create more opportunities for all."[2,3]
- University of the People: A Crypto-First Endowment for Borderless Learning - "'Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not' is a great summary of the problem that University of the People is helping to address. And from those early days when it was really just a glimmer in the eyes of a determined founder, University of the People has grown to over 100,000 students globally, with no sign of slowing down."[4]
- The Great Bifurcation: "there is no reason why the Metaverse, or any web application for that matter, will be built on the blockchain. Why would you use the world's slowest database when a centralized one is far more scalable and performant? It is not as if WhatsApp or Signal are built on top of the plain old telephone service; they simply leverage the fact that phone numbers are unique and thus suitable as identifiers. This is the type of role blockchains will fill: provide uniqueness and portability where necessary, in a way that makes it possible to not just live your life entirely online, but as many lives simultaneously as your might wish, locked in nowhere."[5]
Despite all the pressure from international agencies to ‘target’ we hold the line on universality.
This is smart. Once things move away from "universal," it becomes easier to chip away at who is entitled. When it's literally everyone, nearly everyone will protect it, lest they fall into the "not deserving" category.
posted by explosion at 1:23 PM on December 21, 2021 [15 favorites]
This is smart. Once things move away from "universal," it becomes easier to chip away at who is entitled. When it's literally everyone, nearly everyone will protect it, lest they fall into the "not deserving" category.
posted by explosion at 1:23 PM on December 21, 2021 [15 favorites]
If it's a "universal" basic income, then everyone gets it. There's not an application. There is no income determination or quarterly review of eligibility. There is not a "whoops, I picked up some time-and-a-half this month and now I might lose my benefit" issue. While my personal taxes would almost assuredly go up, I do think that the program should be UNIVERSAL basic income and I am in favor of it over our current VERY fragmented, not-integrated, byzantine and confusing social safety net of programs.
posted by which_chick at 2:01 PM on December 21, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by which_chick at 2:01 PM on December 21, 2021 [6 favorites]
The Barbados government proposed giving its citizens universal basic income.
"Persaud suggested that a citizen's dividend for Barbadians could be combined with the annual reverse tax credits that residents already receive to form a universal basic income. Barbadians who earn less than 25,000 Barbadian dollars a year — about $12,386 — are eligible for a reverse-tax-credit grant of 1,300 Barbadian dollars, or about $644, a year."
(For reference, per capita GDP in Barbados is about $13,000, about a fifth of the US level of $63,000.)
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:12 PM on December 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
"Persaud suggested that a citizen's dividend for Barbadians could be combined with the annual reverse tax credits that residents already receive to form a universal basic income. Barbadians who earn less than 25,000 Barbadian dollars a year — about $12,386 — are eligible for a reverse-tax-credit grant of 1,300 Barbadian dollars, or about $644, a year."
(For reference, per capita GDP in Barbados is about $13,000, about a fifth of the US level of $63,000.)
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:12 PM on December 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
Those are per capita GDP numbers, not the same as per capita income.
posted by beagle at 6:06 PM on December 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by beagle at 6:06 PM on December 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm a big fan of the UBI concept, but have never seen a way to actually implement it, given governments are so captured by corporate and individual interests that are steadfastly opposed to any form of 'welfare'. It's pleasing to see a government with the heart to see all the way down to those citizens struggling to put food on the table and do at least something to help.
I don't think the scheme as described is actually a UBI as such, but it's a massive step in the right direction. Why I don't see it as a UBI is that a tax return is required to access the reverse tax credit and there are plenty of people everywhere living outside the system to an extent that they won't be eligible. As soon as anybody isn't eligible, it's not universal. In addition, the amount isn't sufficient to qualify as a UBI because it's not sufficient to provide basic food and shelter.
Having said that, this is an amazing and positive thing for a government to do and I hope it survives the next change of government. Hopefully, it will increment to become an actual UBI.
posted by dg at 7:53 PM on December 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
I don't think the scheme as described is actually a UBI as such, but it's a massive step in the right direction. Why I don't see it as a UBI is that a tax return is required to access the reverse tax credit and there are plenty of people everywhere living outside the system to an extent that they won't be eligible. As soon as anybody isn't eligible, it's not universal. In addition, the amount isn't sufficient to qualify as a UBI because it's not sufficient to provide basic food and shelter.
Having said that, this is an amazing and positive thing for a government to do and I hope it survives the next change of government. Hopefully, it will increment to become an actual UBI.
posted by dg at 7:53 PM on December 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
While my personal taxes would almost assuredly go up, I do think that the program should be UNIVERSAL basic income and I am in favor of it over our current VERY fragmented, not-integrated, byzantine and confusing social safety net of programs.
I think, for a lot of people, net taxes would not actually go up. The argument against UBI is always increased taxes (as well as not wanting to give money to people 'too lazy to work'), without considering the benefit that comes with it and which, for many, cancels out the increased tax payments. Yes, higher-income earners would pay more and reforming income tax structures to avoid people getting caught in a situation where they end up worse off in a way that is bad (ie they end up with not enough to survive because the increased tax is more than the payment) would be important.
I also think that a true UNIVERSAL basic income could save a huge amount of public money currently used to exclude as many people as possible from social programs because they don't meet or can't navigate meaningless barriers. Universal means if you have a pulse, you get paid.
posted by dg at 8:30 PM on December 21, 2021 [6 favorites]
I think, for a lot of people, net taxes would not actually go up. The argument against UBI is always increased taxes (as well as not wanting to give money to people 'too lazy to work'), without considering the benefit that comes with it and which, for many, cancels out the increased tax payments. Yes, higher-income earners would pay more and reforming income tax structures to avoid people getting caught in a situation where they end up worse off in a way that is bad (ie they end up with not enough to survive because the increased tax is more than the payment) would be important.
I also think that a true UNIVERSAL basic income could save a huge amount of public money currently used to exclude as many people as possible from social programs because they don't meet or can't navigate meaningless barriers. Universal means if you have a pulse, you get paid.
posted by dg at 8:30 PM on December 21, 2021 [6 favorites]
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posted by seanmpuckett at 12:48 PM on December 21, 2021 [5 favorites]