Basic income to be given to 84,000 people in Canada

[sandensea]

Source: The Independent

An estimated 84,000 people in the Canadian province of Quebec are to receive basic income from the start of next year, as part of the government's anti-poverty plan.

Quebec’s Premier Philippe Couillard made the announcement as part of his administration’s $3bn plans on Sunday, which aims to promote “economic inclusion,” CBC News reported.

Those who qualify for basic income include those with a limited capacity to work, including people with physical and intellectual disabilities. It means their current financial support will increase by at least $73 per month.

The plan will see the annual income of those covered by the scheme increase from $12,749 to $18,029 by 2023, which meets the poverty threshold of $18,000, the Montreal Gazette reports. The project, which largely targets single people, intends to bring some 100,000 people out of poverty by 2023, government officials told reporters.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/basic-income-quebec-canada-poverty-unemployment-ontario-a8103616.html

[msongs]

1. article conveniently forgot to say where this money is coming from nt

[davekriss]

2. Fair progressive taxation?

[PoliticAverse]

3. From among the other 8+ million people in Quebec I'd guess.

Last edited Tue Dec 12, 2017, 05:04 PM - Edit history (1)

Edited to correct my Quebec population error as pointed out by "Floyd R. Turbo".

[Floyd R. Turbo]

6. I think Quebec has a population of around 8 million!

The whole of Canada is 36 million!

[PoliticAverse]

8. Doh! I shouldn't have made that error, considering that I thought the population of all Canada...

was around 25 million (but as you point out it is now actually 36+ million). I've corrected my post. Thanks.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

9. NP!

[LanternWaste]

4. What leads you to allege it was convenient to leave out?

What leads you to allege it was convenient to leave out?

[harun]

5. I think people know where tax money comes from by now.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Because there is a net gain from this approach

From HuffPo Canada, but it would be much the same for the US.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/hugh-segal/guaranteed-annual-income_b_3037347.html

"In Canada, a federal tax-based top-up would be fiscally beneficial. Eligibility for the federal top-up would render millions of provincial welfare recipients ineligible for welfare, liberating billions of dollars for provincial coffers for other purposes like education, chronic care or necessary infrastructure."

If you add the money already put out for welfare plus the savings in all the bureaucracy in screening, and enforcement in trying to find those that 'cheat' by working on the side, there is a net gain. Not to mention the drop in crime from those individuals that for whatever reason failed to qualify for welfare. If there were a simple guaranteed minimum income for all, there would be no welfare program. Just top-ups if you failed to reach the minimum.