Beyond the crisis, there’s a strong case for a Universal Basic income

At this rate we shall soon find it easier to count the evenings when Rishi Sunak is not announcing multi-billion economic rescue packages. Last night, finally, it was the turn of Britain’s self-employed and gig economy workers. Mirroring the wage subsidy scheme for employees, taxable grants will now cover 80% of a self-employee’s average profit from the last three years, capped at £2500, for at least three months. If three years of HMRC data is not available, the replacement rate will be calculated on two or one year’s worth instead.

With such huge and urgent announcements, it is easy to rush straight to the inevitable design flaws. To do that now in the face of what is, by international standards, a well-funded package would be excessively churlish. The bottom line is that compared with yesterday millions of self-employed workers have a path towards more financial security. The generosity, at approximately £3bn a month, is not to be sniffed at.

Still, it would be wrong not to point out some problems with the new arrangement. Throughout this crisis I have described the Chancellor’s announcements as ‘fiscal colanders’ – the same is true of this one. The main group that slip through the holes this time are new entrepreneurs without yet a year of accounting data – for them there is only the already creaking Universal Credit system.

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Πηγή: capx.co