U.S. Basic Income Could Pay $38,690
Taxpayers will save $92 billion overall. Four-person households with two children will automatically, unconditionally receive $38,690.
From a philosophical standpoint, a universal basic income could act as a vaccine for poverty. From a quantitative view, it can save us a huge amount of money.
Quantitative Analysis of an American Basic Income
I performed a simple set of calculations to see the impact of a universal basic income on Americans, and the numbers are promising. As of 2015, there were 321 million people residing in the United States, 76% of whom were adults over 18. If the approximately 13 million undocumented immigrants are subtracted, that leaves 308 million legal residents.
U.S. spending on social security, unemployment, and labor in FY 2015 was $1.3 trillion. If this spending is redirected toward a basic income for all legal residents, every person would receive $4,220 annually. Since a child often lives under an adult’s roof and requires less spending than an adult to achieve the same quality of life, assume that a child’s UBI allotment should be 45% of the adult allotment, an arbitrary number based on practical considerations. With this provision, the adult basic income rises to $4,870 — not quite enough to live on comfortably.
