Over the years that I have discussed an universal basic income for people, I have often encountered people resistant to the idea. They cannot conceive such a thing. Ironically we have had forms of basic income for decades ... just not universal income. We have old age pensions and baby bonuses. I have known families which have collected both at the same time. The old age pension starts at 65 and the baby bonus used to be received until the child reached 16.
The baby bonus is an excellent example of a limited basic income. It is universal to the extent that it is for everyone with children. It isn't universal because it reflects a reduction the greater the household income.
Source
Obviously looking at the chart one doesn't get rich having kids under the Ontario Child Benefit program ... but it does allow parents to choose where they want to spend their money. If they want to buy pizza or movie tickets or something like school books, at least the family can allocate things as they see fit.
There is even a tax credit (I think it might be paid quarterly) in Ontario which is a refund on the sales tax that you might pay. https://www.ontario.ca/page/tax-credit-calculator
This program discriminates against people making over 30K (not quite sure the exact cut off) however the point is that it redistributes some of the sales tax surpluses.
If you live in Lindsay, Brantford, Hamilton or Thunder Bay Ontario Canada you might be eligible to join in the pilot project.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-basic-income-pilot
If you are interested in following news about this pilot project, I encourage you to visit http://lindsayadvocate.ca/ (I am unaffiliated but feel the need to support their objectives).
Correction (provided by Roderick Benns - Publisher of the Lindsay Advocate)
I supplied the Ontario Child Benefit, but the main article referenced the Canada Child Benefit:
Basic benefit for July 2016 to June 2018
We calculate the Canada child benefit (CCB) as follows:
- $6,400 per year ($533.33 per month) for each eligible child under the age of six
- $5,400 per year ($450.00 per month) for each eligible child aged 6 to 17
We start to reduce the amount of CCB you get when your adjusted family net income (AFNI) is over $30,000. The reduction is calculated as follows:
- families with one eligible child: the reduction is 7% of the amount of AFNI between $30,000 and $65,000, plus 3.2% of the amount of AFNI over $65,000
- families with two eligible children: the reduction is 13.5% of the amount of AFNI between $30,000 and $65,000, plus 5.7% of the amount of AFNI over $65,000
- families with three eligible children: the reduction is 19% of the amount of AFNI between $30,000 and $65,000, plus 8% of the amount of AFNI over $65,000
- families with four or more eligible children: the reduction is 23% of the amount of AFNI between $30,000 and $65,000, plus 9.5% of the amount of AFNI over $65,000