Basic income finds support on right as 'most transparent' form of redistribution

One might assume that the OntarioLiberal government's pilot project to provide a guaranteed basic income would be roundly dismissed by those on the political and economic right as yetanother government-led social welfare scheme doomed tofailure.

But the policy has adherents among some free-market economists and libertarian thinkers who believe this type of program isthe most efficient way to provide assistance to the poor.

"Ifyou accept the idea that there's going to be somesortof redistribution taking place in our system, then you want to do it in the most transparent and efficient way possible," saidMichael Tanner, a senior fellow at theCatoInstitute. "And you want it to actually benefit people. And our current welfare system does neither."

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In the U.S.,all levels of government combinedspend over $1 trillion a year on at least 126 anti-poverty programs, Tannerwrote in a piece for theCato Institutein 2015. Yet these programs, he said, aredoing little "to help the poor get out of poverty or become self-sufficient."

"We spend a lot of money and get very little bang for the buck," he said.

On Monday, OntarioPremier Kathleen Wynneannounced the province is launching a three-yearpilot project to provide up to $17,000 to 4,000 low-income residents ofHamilton, Lindsay and Thunder Bay. The current welfare system in Ontario is designed to provide financial relief to low-income individuals, provided they are attempting to look for work or willtake part in activities tohelp themfind a job.

The financial assistance from this pilot project, based on a report delivered by former Conservative senator Hugh Segal, would come with no strings attached.

'Certain minimum income for everyone'

It's an idea that, in some form, was championed by Austrian economistFriedrichHayek, who wrote about"the assurance of a certain minimum income for everyone, or sort of floor below which nobody need fall."

Noted free-marketeconomist Milton Friedman also supported a guaranteed national income he preferred to call it a negative income tax, meaning those whose income falls below a certainlevel would receive cash benefits.

"A negative income tax provides comprehensive reform which would do more efficiently and humanely what our present welfare system does so inefficiently and inhumanely," he said.

Those onthe left see it as a move toward social justice, wrote conservative social scientistCharles Murray, an advocate of the policy,in 2016. But its libertarian supporters, he said, "see it as the least damaging way for the government to transfer wealth from some citizens to others."

To free-marketers, basic incomeispreferableto market intervention measures such as minimum wage hikes.

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Interfering in the price system is just about "one of the worst things you can do in an economy," saidMatt Zwolinski, founder and director of the University of San Diego'sCenter for Ethics, Economicsand Public Policy.

"Ifyou want to help the poor, then givingthem cash is simply a much more direct andeffective way of doing that than forcing employersto pay peoplemore than the marketvalue of their labour," he said.

Basic income has also been embraced by many Silicon Valley business leaders, who predict increasingautomation andartificial intelligencewill eliminate low-skilled jobs at an increasing rate.Self-driving vehicles, for example, could cost millions of jobs for those who make theirliving transporting goods or people.

The fear is that the government, to stem that job loss, could intervene by implementing anti-technology measures.

"[Basic guaranteedincome] would take care of those low-skilled wagesreplaced by technologyin a way that would not limit innovation and advancementsin computing and robots,"Zwolinski said.

Transition to 'unprecedented world'

Murray agreed, writing that guaranteed basic income"will be an essential part of the transition to that unprecedented world."

It "would present the most disadvantaged among us with an open road to the middle class if they put their minds to it," he wrote.

And for some libertarians, who generally believe the government should keep its nose out of people's private business, a basic guaranteed income ispreferable to other social welfare schemes.

"When you have social welfare programs that have work requirements or that provide in kind benefits rather than cash, all of that involvesthe state trying to make decisions for peopleabout what's best for them,"Zwolinski said.

Butit's important, he said, not to overstate the enthusiasm that those onthe right have forthis policy.

"Most right-leaning folks, by and large, are still going to think of basic income programs precisely as you think they would, as another bloated governmentprogram."

And even among those supporters, there's a significantcaveat: They believe this policyshould replace existingwelfare programs, and not be in addition to those already in the system.

'Sympathetic skeptic'

Tanner said he's a "sympathetic skeptic" of the basic income. While he thinks the philosophical case is strong, the math is hard to make work.

"You can't provide basic minimum income for everyone."

Conservative commentator David Frum, who opposes the plan, said the program ignores something more fundamental, that people need work.

"And not just for money. They need work because without work life doesn't have purpose."

This basic income idea, he said, is very much an economists' idea.

"To an economist, a dollar is adollar. Howyouget itdoesn'tmatter."