This week we had the privilege to listen to Professor Trost's proposal of a Universal Basic Dividend. This is not to be confused with a Universal Basic Income. The Universal Basic Income is a program implemented by the government that grants adult citizens with a set amount of money. This is similar to Professor Trost's idea, but with UBI, he wants a constitutional amendment. With this amendment, 16% GDP would be given to the citizens of the U.S. and with that, there would be a tax rate of 25% for everyone. Professor Trost also mentioned how federal spending would be stopped at 9%. I like this part of the plan because then the federal government wouldn't be able to spend more than they needed to for various things. With this proposal as well, basic necessities of citizens would be met since there is a set income.
However, this plan could fail. In my opinion, this could leave people to be too dependent on the government for their income. I have always been taught by my parents to work hard and with my hard work, success will follow. I don't necessarily care about how much money I make, but I would like to know that my hard work paid off and it would show monetarily. If there was a set income, I don't think some people would work as hard anymore if they were getting the same amount as everyone else. For example, with the government giving unemployment money to people out of work, some people can take that for granted and choose to not work because they are getting paid more than they would make if they did choose to work. I know this because my aunt is an example. She chose not to work because she received more money from the stimulus than what she made at work. On the other hand, I do like how the UBI sets everyone equal to each other and there's no thought of one person is better than the other.
