Jan 6, 2017

The UBI will therefore lead to an increase in taxes. Wrong!

Universal Basic Income is not a complete give-away. (Jan 6, 2017). The writer, Chris Kuan, jumps to the usual conclusion that a universal basic income will lead to an increase in taxes. It may be true for some countries. Since the article is about Singapore, the conclusion is definitely wrong. Singapore has a vast amount of resources (government held funds and huge recurring land sales, among others) which are not used in the government's operating expenditure. 

The investment returns and recurring government sales of land and car certificates are more than enough to sustain a big universal basic income year for year for eternity. Singapore can easily have a sustainable universal basic income of $10,000 without having to increase any taxes.

See the following posts for some calculations:

Singapore revenue and expenditure for 2013 IF we have a citizen dividend / unconditional basic income

Singapore is a resource-rich country!!!

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