Maintaining basic income

The Dutch Planning Bureau has recently employed a sophisticated computer model to test a scenario in which a price-indexed individual basic income of Dutch Fl 1,200 would replace the current means-tested and household-based minimum income guarantee and housing subsidies. It would be financed from a portion of the proceeds of an income tax set at a uniform rate of 44% (instead of the present 38% to 50%). Producing a significant reduction in bureaucracy and a massive expansion of part-time work, the predicted outcome is a fall in public expenditure and a 25% reduction in the unemployment rate. The main price would be extracted from those who are unemployed and single. They would see a reduction in their benefits to half the current level.