DBC Reed alerts us to some pro-Citizen's Income letters in The Guardian, best of which was this:
… In order to pay for basic income, the most logical change to the taxation system would be the introduction of a land tax, the effect of which would be to reduce property prices and, in conjunction with basic income, stimulate the economy by putting more money into circulation. The net result would reduce inequality and have a negative effect on the income of rentier landlords who would undoubtedly see the measures as an attack on capitalism itself: yet another good reason to make it happen.
Bert Schouwenburg, International officer, GMB
The next letter provides a totally bizarre Killer Argument Against Citizen's Income, Not:
I think most Guardian readers would be instinctively drawn to the idea of the universal basic income as a signifier of a return to universal welfare, but we should be careful what we wish for. Charles Murray, arch champion of neo-liberal reform of the state, has been arguing for this for years as a means of eliminating forever the welfare state.
Karen West, Aston University
Dude WTF.
So the socialists say that people like Charles Murray wants to "eliminate forever the welfare state". A Citizen's Income is merely a radical simplification of the "welfare state", altho' it would get rid of most of the apparatus of the welfare state, i.e. most of the hundreds of thousands of civil servants working for the DWP and housing departments, plenty more at HMRC and so on. Perhaps that's what she means..?
(As an aside, I was at a Citizen's Income Trust shindig last year, and both Natalie Bennett and John McDonnell spoke in favour of it. Are they also "neo-liberal"? Sticking "neo-" in front of something to make it sound conspiratorial and evil is usually a sign that somebody has nothing to contribute.)
I've heard just as many authoritarians/right wingers complain that a Citizen's Income is some evil, neo-socialist stalking horse.
I have pointed out many a time that there are some overlaps between non-socialist left and libertarian right, and pretty much everything I support is exactly in that overlap. If done sensibly, a Citizen's Income would not be significantly more or less redistributive than the current welfare system and all the tax breaks it could replace, it's not really a political thing at all.
Can't these opponents on left and right agree between themselves whether it is a wicked far right idea or a wicked far left idea, and then we can then take on the winner?