---
title: Basic income is not about redistribution of money
date: 2022-08-06
tags: [politics, economics]
description: The discourse around basic income annoys me.
---

The discourse around basic income annoys me. People discuss how it could be
financed and whether it is a good idea to replace the carefully crafted system
of social redistribution. All that is completely beside the point. *Basic
income is not about the redistribution of money.* After introducing basic
income, everyone should have mostly the same as before. What it is about is the
redistribution of bureaucratic work.

Let me explain:

The system of social redistribution is complex. There are taxes, unemployment
benefits, and insurances. Each of them comes with a whole host of custom rules
and exceptions. This complexity exists for a good reason, after all social
equity is complex. But this complexity also has a downside: It is hard to keep
track of all the rules and exceptions. So I might end up getting less than I
would theoretically be entitled to.

Rich people can pay expensive tax consultants to get the best deal. But poor
people have neither the money for that nor the time and resources to do it
themselves. At the same time, they are the ones who are most reliant on this
whole system. It follows that a system of social redistribution focused on real
equity must be simple for people with little income.

That is exactly what a basic income achieves: For people with very little
income, it ensures that they don't need to be hungry, without having to fill
out any forms or applications and without turning over all of their personal
data. In other words: The bureaucratic work of applying for unemployment
benefits is removed. But the amount of money you are entitled to doesn't
really change.

Of course this is only one (important) building block. Other policies could
also be adapted to shift the bureaucratic work up the income curve. To make an
example: taxes on income from capital should start very low so ordinary people
can save some money for retirement without loosing most of it to inflation. As
we get into "let the money work for you" territory, the taxes may get really
high, maybe even 80% or 90%. And then there might be specific exceptions to
incentivize investment into e.g. renewable energy.

In this system, rich people who are doing some elaborate investment need to do
the bureaucratic work and apply for an exception. But poor people don't have to
do that kind of work just to get their basic human rights met. And that is what
basic income is about.