You know, even if you are right about the UBI and by some black magic it isn't going to cause inflation, the VAT will feel like inflation at the point of sale. That in itself has an effect similar to inflation and is practically indistinguishable from it. The only difference is what you call it. Inflation is a hidden tax, and the VAT is a direct tax. They're both just taxes.

If you can hypothetically duck hyperinflation by having an upfront tax to cover the bill, people are still paying more for goods and services just as they would with inflation. Does a war by any other name not smell as putrid? I mean you may as well be arguing with me that the U.S. hasn't been to war in decades and that these little tiffs we've been getting into all around the world are just military conflicts. You'd be right in name only, but these are just tricks of the mind.

The problem with top-down tinkering in complex systems that evolved from the bottom up is there are innumerable moving parts that work in synchronicity with each other and every time someone upsets the applecart it creates a chain reaction of events that may not be readily obvious.

Maybe Yang will win his 2020 bid, and you can either learn from the school of hard knocks, or perhaps utopia exists, and I’ll be in a state of pure awe and amazement. One sure-fire certainty is that the VAT will spike prices at the point of sale. Yang frames it as if the tax will only affect silicon valley, but I’m not buying the impression he is trying to put out in that regard.

It seems wiser to slash the income tax to zero until after someone earns 12k; this way they would not have to resort to playing with fire. I foresee a free money system having strings attached and compelling performance. Not up to date on your vaccines, no UBI for you. Failure to enroll in the new single-payer health care system, no UBI for you. Said something uncouth, rude, or politically incorrect on the internet, no UBI for you. Without said UBI you won’t be able to afford the added tax on goods and services at the point of sale.

It will be a clever way to manipulate people and will give the social credit system they want to roll out some teeth. The clip below is a good illustration of the amazing complexity of free market systems that evolve from the bottom up. Something seemingly as simple as the organization involved in manufacturing a pencil is surprisingly intricate, and market tinkering generally tends to cause unforeseen blowback.