“Who pays for it?” Is is a bit of a simplistic question. Everyone does. The idea that people are going to collect their basic income and never work a day in their life has proved to be false repeatedly. People will still work, some may work less, leaving more slots available for others to fill.

But on top of that you would also have a corporate payment system. Basically machines that automate work would be considered owned by the population, not the company. So the company automating their work would pay a fee for the machines they use, which would also go into UBI. If they choose to hire workers rather than machines they can do that instead, in which case more jobs are created and those workers pay into the tax base.

It is an absolutely necessary step as we move closer and closer to automation of menial jobs.