Universal Basic Dividend

UBI is money to all citizens based on living there. The questionable source is where the money comes from. In debt-ridden nations, of course, the inability of the government to manage its spending allows for lenders to fill in the gaps. To keep spending in check and engage citizens in government finances,

Introducing UBD — Universal Basic Dividend — a distribution of excess tax revenue to taxpayers or citizens. Not only will this incentivize fiscal responsibility but can lessen the burden of a citizen in taxes and from inflation. In the following example, the basic income will be illustrated.

The government takes in X amount of revenue and has Y amount of expenses. Take the difference(X-Y) divided by Z number of citizens and that is your dividend.

If the difference is negative, that would mean the government would borrow from lenders. Could this not lead back to fiscal laziness if the government can borrow to give citizens a dividend anyway. Yes, it could. There could be limits in a constitution to stop borrowing but don’t be surprised when an inefficient government finds a way around that. Not only that but the distribution of the dividend could be corrupted as some may take more than allowed. The point of this idea is to emphasize that a universal basic income without fiscal responsibility would hurt taxpayers in the long run in higher taxes and/or less productivity.

UBD is an idealized variant of a UBI. It may in time revert to a UBI. Not to say UBI is a bad idea, but runaway government spending won’t solve everyone’s problems and not by a long shot.