On: Switzerland’s Proposal to Pay People

[mercenario]

If it's about wealth redistribution, why give money to the rich? If it's about anything else, why take the money in the first place just to give it back later?

[gnaritas → mercenario]

> If it's about wealth redistribution, why give money to the rich?

If everyone gets it, then there's no overhead in qualifying people or trying to prevent fraud, that's why.

> I have a better idea, why don't government cut everyone’s taxes by the same amount?

That's not a better idea as it doesn't address the problem at all.

[colomon → gnaritas]

Actually, just making sure the people getting the checks are alive will constitute some overhead, no?

[gnaritas → colomon]

Are you being obtuse on purpose?

[lmm → mercenario]

Because any sharp cutoff where you stopped getting it would create poor incentives for people earning just below that cutoff.

What exactly are you objecting to, and what are you counterproposing? (If you're worried about having to mail two cheques, in practice it might well be applied as a reduction in tax once your taxes would be more than the credit. If you're worried about administration overheads, having every citizen able to claim the same amount exactly once is a lot simpler than means-tested benefits and means there's much less opportunity for fraud).