Facebook Co-Founder Set To Tax $3 Trillion On Elites for Universal Basic Income
Hughes, 34 dedicates his time working out a way to implement higher taxes o
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Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has said he wants to tax the elites and super-rich $3 trillion over ten years in order to pay for universal basic income (UBI) for working-class Americans.
Hughes, 34 dedicates his time working out a way to implement higher taxes on the super-rich, such as himself, to generate a guaranteed income of $500 a month to every working class American totaling to $290 billion a year.
Even though the number seems astronomically high, Hughes argues that it equals half of the U.S. defense budget and would combat financial inequality.
ZeroHedge reports: Hughes, who has a related book coming out, has made tackling income inequality his top priority by partnering with the Economic Security Project - a major recipient of his philanthropic efforts.
The group is focused finding solutions to provide "unconditional cash and basic income" in the United States due to the effects of "automation, globalization, and financialization" forcing the discussion.
The plan would essentially be an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for low-to-moderate income individuals and families.
The Economic Security Project is a network committed to advancing the debate on unconditional cash and basic income in the United States.
In a time of immense wealth, no one should live in poverty, nor should the middle class be consigned to a future of permanent stagnation or anxiety.
Automation, globalization, and financialization are changing the nature of work, and these shifts require us to rethink how to create economic opportunity for all. -Economic Security Project
While Hughes notes that the annual $290 billion annual price tag is half the U.S. defense budget, he contends that income inequality is destabilizing the nation - and that there is a "very practical concern that, given that consumer spending is the biggest driver of economic growth in the United States and that median household incomes haven't meaningfully budged in 40 years," a Universal Basic Income is vital to maintaining economic national security.
"Cash is just the simplest and most efficient thing to eradicate poverty and stabilize the middle class," Hughs told Bloomberg at the Economic Security Project's New York offices at Union Square.
There are many ways to pay for a guaranteed income.
However, I do think that the resources can and should come from the people who most benefited from the structure of the economy.
We had tax rates at 50 percent for several decades after [World War II].
In the same period, we had record economic growth and broad-based prosperity. I’m not making the case, in the book and in general, that we just need higher taxes.
It matters what our tax dollars are going to. Cash is just the simplest and most efficient thing to eradicate poverty and stabilize the middle class. -Bloomberg
