Is Universal Basic Income a good idea?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Is Universal Basic Income a good idea?
Position1 of 3›: No, UBI is a bad idea
Argument‹3 of 4›: UBI is financially irresponsible

The financial deficits greatly outweigh the financial benefits when considering the immense public costs of UBI. Increased tax rates as well as an inappropriate allocation of funds away from public health and education toward UBI creates significant disadvantages and budget deficits directly affecting public life.

The argument

Implementing UBI at a level where the guaranteed income would ensure sufficient quality of life for recipients would mean spending enormous amounts of public funds. This would create equally enormous budget deficits. In order to pay for a UBI program, the government would have to source these funds by increasing taxes and/or reallocating funds from other large public programs. These programs could include health or education, where the expenditures are more important. The cost of UBI to the public is simply too high.

Context

UBI requires a lot of public money to function. The funding for UBI programs has to come from somewhere, which may mean the cost of these programs is prohibitive.

Premises

[P1]Funding a UBI generous enough to ensure a sufficient quality of life would require enormous public spending and create equally enormous budget deficits. [P2] Paying for it would mean raising taxes or reallocating funds from more important programs like health and education, making its cost to the public simply too high. [C] Therefore, because it is financially irresponsible, UBI is a bad idea.

Counter-arguments

1. The tax increases needed to support UBI are exaggerated and are feasible given current income distributions. UBI would also make many current public welfare programs unnecessary, freeing up that funding without any loss of essential services.

Rejecting the premises

[P1]The sheer amount of funding needed for UBI does not make it financially irresponsible; it is simply necessary to rebalance the budget correctly.

[P2]Tax increases will not be necessary to get to this level of funding; the increase of productivity through UBI will compensate.

[P3]If taxes were to be raised, it would be a good way to redistribute it through UBI as it increases overall equality.

Framing

The financial costs that UBI entails for the state surpass its effectiveness.