| Articles
on UBI and Women
- Prue Hyman 1
- Prue Hyman 2
- Prue Hyman 3
- Anne
Else
- Celia
Brier
Website Links:
Writing on
UBI by Anne Else
- For more info contact:
- Celia Briar
- Prue Hyman
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- A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is an unconditional cash payment for every
- New Zealand citizen
-
- Income means...
- You get it whether you're in paid employment or not.
- It enables you to do socially useful work, such as caring, voluntary and
- creative work.
- It enables employment opportunities to be shared more equally.
- It gives us real choice in how we spend our lives.
- It is tax free.
-
- Basic means...
- About the level of the dole in 1990 plus allowances and inflation
- Enough to survive on
- No poverty traps like current benefits, because extra income would be taxed but wouldn't
affect your UBI
-
- Universal means...
- Every citizen and permanent resident of New Zealand is entitled to UBI, including
children
- No "targeting" so no one misses out
- It will help remove the stigma surrounding some benefits.
-
- We Can Afford UBI Now
- A UBI of $8,000 for adults is affordable now.
- A higher UBI would be affordable with:
- -
Progressive taxes up to 50% of high incomes
- - A
financial transaction tax
- -
Environmental taxes.
- Introducing a UBI would boost our economy because more people would have money to spend,
and more money circulating would stimulate business.
- Introducing UBI would save millions in administration and policing of confusing benefit
rules
- UBI would be simple, transparent and cheap to run
- How We Get There
- Restore benefits to 1990 levels
- Abolish the work test and stand-down period for the dole
- Change the name of the unemployment benefit to a basic income, and pay it to all current
beneficiaries, untaxed
- Increase taxes for people on higher incomes
- Reduce basic income abatements (penalties for earning on top of the benefit) as well as
the super surcharge
- Establish a basic income for all non-earning partners of paid workers, as well as
children, at a low level
- Gradually increase the partnered adult UBI to the same rate as a single adult.
- Gradually increase the UBI for children to $4,000 for each household with one child and
an additional $2,000 for each extra child.
- Households of only one adult would also receive an extra $2,000.
-
- How a UBI Benefits Women
- It will be paid to each individual, so all women have an independent income, regardless
of what their partner earns
- Children's UBI would be paid to their main caregiver
- Sole mothers could start new relationships without becoming financially dependent on a
new partner
- Women and men could do part-time work as well as childcare, without affecting their UBI
- A UBI recognises the value of caring for children and dependent relatives, as well as
voluntary community work - mostly done by women.
- How We Make it Happen
- Ask your women's group, union,
- community group, political party or other organisations
- you are a member of to adopt UBI as a policy which it will lobby to implement
- Read about it and help develop the details
- Spread the idea among friends and family
- Offer your support to your local beneficiaries' union, People's Centre or Unemployed
- Workers Union to campaign for UBI.
-
- Contacts
- Universal Basic Income New Zealand website www.geocities.com/ubinz/
- European Basic Income Network website www.econ.ucl.ac.be/ETES/BIEN/bien.html
- Auckland Women's Centre website www.womenz.org.nz
- For more information phone -
- Jenny Rankine, Auckland jrankine@hrc.govt.nz
09 839 3830 (ah)
- Celia Briar, Palmerston North c.j.briar@massey.ac.nz
06 357 0273 (ah)
- Prue Hyman, Wellington prue.hyman@vuw.ac.nz
04 292 8108 (ah)
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