https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9705819/It-lessens-bills-500-payments-tested-upstate-NY.htmlREVEALED: Residents of more than 20 cities in US are receiving $500 a month universal basic income payments as popularity of Andrew Yang's proposal grows
Residents in cities across the country are receiving $500 per month payments as part of a no-strings-attached experimental universal basic income program
Universal Basic Income, popularized by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, has gained more attention after the pandemic
An Upstate New York a pilot program, funded by private donations, is providing 100 residents making less than $46,900 annually $500 a month for a year
UBI advocates ultimately want the government paying a base salary to every citizen that would help to cover costs including food and rent
Critics of UBI programs worry about their effectiveness and cost compared to aid programs that target funds for food, shelter or for help raising children
By GINA MARTINEZ FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 08:22 EDT, 20 June 2021 | UPDATED: 23:39 EDT, 20 June 2021
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Residents in cities across the country are receiving $500 per month payments as part of a no-strings-attached experimental universal basic income program.
A version of the Universal Basic Income program, popularized by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, has gained more attention after the pandemic idled millions of workers.
Now places from Compton, California, to Richmond, Virginia, are trying out pilot guaranteed income programs as researchers hope the results give them a fuller picture of what happens when a range of people are sent payments that guarantee a basic living, AP reported.
In Upstate New York a pilot program, funded by private donations, is providing 100 county residents making less than $46,900 annually $500 a month for a year +5
In Upstate New York a pilot program, funded by private donations, is providing 100 county residents making less than $46,900 annually $500 a month for a year
An Upstate New York pilot program, funded by private donations, is providing 100 county residents making less than $46,900 annually $500 a month for a year.
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The income threshold was based on 80% of the county´s average median income, meaning it includes both the poor and a slice of the middle class - people who face financial stress but might not ordinarily qualify for government aid based on income, AP reported.
One of the recipients is 57-year-old Anette Steele, a special education school aide who is getting her payments through a program in Ulster County, located less than 100 miles north of New York City, which covers parts of the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley.
Steele, who lives in the village of Ellenville with her retired husband, tells AP that the monthly payments of $500 provides her a welcome financial boost that has helped her pay for car insurance and groceries.
'It lessens my bills,' Steele said. 'People think because you've been working so many years, that you make this tremendous amount of money. But no, actually.'
While most basic income programs tend to focus on cities, this upstate program branches out to a city, small towns and remote areas many miles from bus lines and supermarkets.
'Showing that this approach will work not just in urban areas, but for rural parts of the country - which we know is one of our big national problems - I think there´s great opportunity there,' Ulster County Executive Patrick Ryan told AP.
Ryan saw cash payments as a way to help local families struggling financially as the pandemic ebbs.
Center for Guaranteed Income Research co-founder Stacia West, who is evaluating more than 20 similar pilot programs, is interested in seeing how spending compares to cities like Stockton, California, where more than a third went for food.
'Knowing what we know about barriers to employment, especially in rural areas, we may see more money going toward transportation than we´ve ever seen before in any other experiment,' said West, who is also a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work. 'But it remains to be seen.'
Supporters of guaranteed incomes say recipients should decide how to best spend the money - be it on food, job searches or to replace a refrigerator.
The money can be used to complement an existing social safety net, or can be used as an emergency response for when the economy starts tanking, AP reported.
The end goal for a number of advocates of UBI programs is a system which would see the government paying a base salary to every citizen that would help to cover costs including food and rent.
The $1,000 per month UBI idea helped fuel Andrew Yang's Democratic presidential primary run last year and now that he is running for New York City mayor, he has doubled down.
Yang has proposed an income program that would extend an average of $2,000 per year to New York City residents living in extreme poverty.
Officials involved in the Ulster County program, where Yang has a second home, say the mayoral candidate hasn´t been involved but that the nonprofit he founded, Humanity Forward, was helpful in sharing experiences on starting a UBI pilot, AP reported.
Critics of UBI programs worry about their effectiveness and cost compared to aid programs that target funds for food, shelter or for help raising children, AP reported.
Drake University economics professor Heath Henderson told AP her is concerned the programs miss needier people less likely to apply, including those without homes.
While there are times people might benefit from a cash infusion, the money is unlikely to address the structural issues holding people back, like inadequate health care and schools, he said.
'If we keep thinking about remedying poverty in terms of just throwing cash at people, you´re not thinking about the structures that kind of reproduce poverty in the first place and you´re not really solving the problem at all,' Henderson told AP.
WHAT IS UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME AND HOW WOULD IT WORK?
Universal Basic Income (UBI) proposals are on the rise, with many backing the system as a possible solution for unemployment caused by the rise of machines equipped with artificial intelligence taking over the workforce.
They system would see governments paying every citizen of a country a base salary to cover costs including food and rent.
The guaranteed sum would be paid by the state to everyone, regardless of wealth or work status.
Dpending on the details of the UBI proposal, the funds could be added to existing benefits or put in place of them.
Left-wing supporters of the system say that it could lower proverty rates. For the right-leaners, it's a route to a less bureaucratic wellfare system.
The program would likely be funded by an increase in income taxes across all income levels.
To pay every adult and child in the United States a yearly income of £8,045 ($10,000) per year, the government would likely have to cut most non-health social spending programs and raise the share of GDP collected in tax by ten per cent, according to the Economist.
Another suggestion is a negative interest rate, that would take a percentage of every citizen's bank account each month.
A universal basic income in the United Kingdom that would give every adult and child £12,000 ($14,900) per year requires a negative interest rate of 2.5 percent per month, according to the Centre for Welfare Reform.
So, if a person were to have £5,000 ($6,600) in his or her bank account at the beginning of the month, by the end, £4,884 ($6,500) would be left because £116 ($153) would be taken by the government for a universal basic income pot.
Some have suggested a sliding scale of basic income, so the higher a person's employment salary, the lower basic income check he or she would receive from the government.
The left-wing French presidential candidate Benoit Hamon, backed by the star economist Thomas Piketty, has also made the basic income part of his platform.
Finland is the first European country to pay its unemployed citizens an unconditional sum.
The two-year pilot scheme, which started January 1, gives unemployed Finland citizens aged 25 to 58 a guaranteed sum of €560 (£490/$648) that replaces existing social benefits.
The funds will still be paid if they eventually find work.
In Marica, Brazil, a seaside town of about 150,000 people near Rio de Janeiro, the left-wing municipal government has spent the last year finding out universal basic salaries work.
In Marica - a surviving Workers' Party bastion in increasingly right-leaning Brazil - the basic income idea fits in well with the leadership's socialist fervor.
However, if Finland is handing out payments of about $590 (£450) a month - and only to a test group of unemployed people for now - the amount in Marica is a measly 10 reais, or about $3.20 (£2.40). The new mayor hopes to raise the amount to $32 (£24) in 2017.
Only the town's 14,000 poorest families are currently being given the income, which is denominated in Mumbucas, a virtual currency created to pay welfare under Quaqua three years ago.
The 10 reais is added to the 85 reais ($27/ £20) monthly welfare check for families whose income doesn't top three times the minimum wage. The extra money is also given to poorer people aged between 14 and 29 and pregnant women already receiving other benefits.
There's another limitation: only 131 local businesses - less than 10 percent of the total - accept payment in Mumbucas, the mayor's office says.
The currency, which physically exists only on specially issued red magnetic cards, is unpopular with business owners because they must wait more than a month after purchases are completed for the government to convert payments into reals.
