Methods for Establishing a Basic Income
This section deals with the practicalities of establishing a practical Basic Income in New Zealand. The three subsections below investigate and compare some recent proposals:
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Perce Harpham's Proposal for a Basic Income
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Lowell Manning's Guaranteed Minimum Income For NZ
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Gareth Morgan and Susan Guthrie's "The Big Kahuna".
BINZ welcomes any comments, suggestions, or criticisms. In addition, BINZ is grateful for any information you can send that would help the authors improve the proposals.
Perce Harpham Proposal
A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is an important part of reducing inequality.
Its effect can be partly negated by the taxes that are used to finance it, such as an increased GST. Also, both wealth and income inequalities need to be reduced. To understand how a UBI could be used as part of an overhaul of both the tax and benefit systems, watch a 7 minute video as an easy introduction ('Perce Harpham Proposal Video', on the video page). For further details refer to http://perce.harpham.co.nz for several papers including one titled "UBI Reducing Inequality".
In the paper 'Reducing Inequality in the 21st Century', Perce demonstrates how a UBI could be financed and the paper titled 'Transition to a UBI & Asset Tax' Perce explores how we might get from here to there.
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Revised 9 March 2020
Lowell Manning Proposal
You can read about Lowell Manning's proposal in the original paper: 'A Guaranteed Minimum Income For New Zealand' or as a short form article 'Replacing Welfare With Dignity And Worth'. Click on the boxes below to read more!
This proposal is to replace the present welfare system with a uniform gross Basic Income payment for all combined with multiple different tax scales so that no family receives more net or after tax income than they do at present. The objective being to introduce a Basic Income with no additional cost.
This proposal has been criticised for failing to provide a Basic Income with a net, after income tax, value that is equal or similar for all individuals, for being family focused rather than individual focused, for providing little or no benefit to individuals or families on low income when compared with the existing system, for the complexity of the tax system involved, and for the difficulty of implementing the scheme in practice.
Big Kahuna
Refer to the 'Big Kahuna' website (http://www.bigkahuna.org.nz) for information about this proposal, especially the section regarding the UBI. The book with the same name can be found at http:www.garethsworld.com. There are also videos on how to make the tax and welfare system fairer for all Kiwis, on the videos page.
This proposal has been criticised for paying a Basic Income at a uniform rate to all with no allowance for those with special needs. This will result in a reduction in income and hardship for those with special needs.