Scott Santens

If people were to get a $1,000 a month job

then many people would no longer qualify for, say, SNAP and these programs that they only qualify for because they aren't receiving enough income.

And also, it would reduce some of their income, too.

So let's say...

if you're on SSI, because you're disabled, then I would argue that we shouldn't just eliminate that program.

But at the same time, I think they should get something on top of what they get from basic income.

So if you're getting $700 right now through SSI, and because you start getting $1,000 per month, that goes down to like $300 or something, remember what it is, then that's on top of the $1,000, but it's not the full amount that it was.

in which case we are saving that revenue that we already are using for these other programs.

It's an effective way of not shutting those programs down, but still getting that money to people who need it and saving that money by essentially...

using the revenue we're already using and putting that to basic income instead.

So that's another good way to go about this.

And then also I want to stress too that we do $1.5 trillion in tax expenditures every year.

So there's a lot of, say, welfare that's written into the tax code.

This is tax credits, subsidies, allowances, deductions, all these things that we do in the tax code.

And those things I think no longer become necessary either.

And if you look at something like the home mortgage interest rate deduction, I mean, this is an example of a program that, especially after the recent tax reform, is really only benefiting those at the top because you have to earn enough that the standard deduction no longer applies to you and you're better off doing the deductions yourself.

And in that case, we're providing $30,000 a year

to like a millionaire to help them pay their mortgage on their mansion.

And so, you know, does that make sense?

And why don't we see that as essentially a $30,000 a year basic income for a homeowner that has an expensive enough home?