How Trump can turn the tables on the left with a radical tax plan
President should contrast leftist idea of universal basic income with his proposal for 'universal right to earn'
By John Tillman Fox News
Published December 16, 2025 5:00am EST
President Donald Trump loves a good foil. For America’s sake, he should find his next one in my home state of Illinois.
Cook County — home of Chicago and most of the state’s leftist lunacy — has taken the nation’s furthest step toward a so-called universal basic income (UBI). Going forward, many low-income residents will permanently get monthly checks of $500. The goal is to help the poor stay on their feet, but in reality, the poor will stay poor and get more numerous. Not only should the president call out this injustice, but he should contrast it with his recent call to eliminate income taxes altogether. This may be Trump’s greatest opportunity for moral and economic leadership yet.
Make no mistake: A UBI is the left’s next national priority. It’s the epitome of their now-impenetrable belief that government alone should provide for people’s needs. Democrats have laid the groundwork for UBI, as it’s called, with refundable child tax credits during the pandemic and pilot programs across the country. The rise of artificial intelligence, with its threat of job losses, gives further momentum to leftists who say that government should give everyone enough money to get by. Even some on the right, like billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, have jumped aboard the UBI bandwagon.
But UBI, like so much of the welfare state, is a frontal assault on the human soul. It saps people’s willingness to develop and apply their inherent talents, making poverty a permanent way of life. While activists and media outlets unfailingly call programs like Cook County’s a "success," real-world evidence shows their moral, economic and individual failure.
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