Latest Loony Tunes Idea From The Looney Left?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41832065
Surprised they are allocating funds to study this, I can tell them what'll happen now! Thankfully It's only in Scotland at the moment.

[youngmafbog]

Well I certainly wouldn't want to be a tax payer in Scotland.

Not bad if your a loafer I guess.

[emmie]

opponents of basic income schemes baulk at the idea of paying people to do nothing; they fear it would be ruinously expensive and foster a generation of unmotivated couch potatoes.

As noted above, backers hope that a basic income would make all work pay and encourage more people into work - but there are concerns it might have the opposite effect.

[emmie]

a simple way of making more people lazy, where is this money coming from?

[ludwig]

It sounds great. No-one would have to go to work or pay any tax....er ..oh dear, I think I see a problem.

[kvalidir]

Not so crazy, other countries / cities are trying similar things. Utrect for example :

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/netherlands-utrecht-universal-basic-income-experiment/487883/

[douglas9401]

The First Minister has obviously had a look around and seen how much cash there is slushing about the place for things like buying votes from hard faced bigots in Norn Iron and has her drones taking it one step further.

I'll bet you my first week's £100 that the next thing will be 'safety net benefits for extreme cases' or some such garbage, eventually leading to the old system coming back plus a ton on top, just because.
Her fascination with ideas Scandinavian (with a side of Chinese) is a matter of record:

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/2060198/scottish-government-baby-boxes-made-in-china/

[naomi24]

Great! We'll all stop working.... until the money runs out.

[ToraToraTora]

kvalidir, that's a tiny experiment not remotely similar to what is described. For example everyone regardless of current status will get in this case £100 per week no questions asked. Yes I can see a lot of admin savings and also they'd get most of it back in indirect taxation, but to do that the cost is astronomical. just a rough calculation show that it would cost £300m per week per million people, lest say it would be paid to 3 million people that = £900m per week that's £47bn about a third of the entire Scottish GDP. In reality GDP would plummet as less and less people are paying for the show. A better Idea would be to abolish direct taxation for the individual.

[ToraToraTora]

spathy: "Would this mean everyone gets a set wage... then those who work get paid on top of the government income? " - Yes according to the article that is the intention.

[ToraToraTora]

I think the wee un has already enacted the baby boxes.

[Zacs-Master]

Holy Jaysus. Is it April 1st? I virtually speechless.

[cassa333]

Who is going to pay for all this free money?

Does Scotland have some resource that we know nothing about that will fund it all?

[ToraToraTora]

Yes Cassa they are going to join the EU.

[Zacs-Master]

That's very witty Tora.

[douglas9401]

"Does Scotland have some resource that we know nothing about that will fund it all?"

You'll hear soon enough so I can exclusively reveal the secret haggis mines in the Trossachs and the off-grid Edinburgh Rock quarries dotted around the capital.

They're the backbone of our burgeoning economy, supporting over-promoted local councillors and their assinine ideas in their quest to make us the envy of the (third) world.

[Old_Geezer]

Depending on the level set, is it so very different to a welfare safety net already in existence ? Ought to be a little more thought around encouraging folk to make a contribution to society though. Need to avoid the few working their arms off to support the rest.

[Old_Geezer]

Does automatically subsidise companies who are paying a living wage, though. Not a good thing. Employers should be obliged to fulfill their obligations to the employees not rely on tax to make up a shortfall.

[ToraToraTora]

plus it gives £100 a week to everyone regardless, even wee jimmy herself OG!

[Old_Geezer]

But they'd be paying an extra £100 a week in tax to pay themselves it.