California guaranteed income advocacy group recommends permanent policy funded by 'dedicated local t

[mystery-ak]

California guaranteed income advocacy group recommends permanent policy funded by 'dedicated local taxes'
The Economic Security Project recommends shifting beyond philanthropy to 'dedicated local taxes' and public funding
By Joshua Q. Nelson Fox News
Published June 13, 2026 9:07am EDT

A group dedicated to instituting guaranteed income programs across the country and aiming for a permanent policy in California wants to fund it with taxpayer dollars.

Founded in 2016, the Economic Security Project (ESP) consisted of "100 entrepreneurs, activists, researchers, and philanthropists" that signed on to promote direct cash payments, their website states.

The organization helped create over 100 guaranteed income pilots across the U.S.

A state affiliate of ESP, Economic Security California, plans to establish a permanent guaranteed income program.

"We lead the transition from cash pilot initiatives to influential policies, focusing on expanding, modernizing, and scaling programs for direct cash," the group stated.

"We actively shape state policies by drawing insights from California guaranteed income pilots, backing our case with compelling research and the stories of real Californians. We champion simple and automatic tax filing, ensuring individuals receive the credits they deserve, and building a fair and equitable tax system for all."

The Golden State leads the nation in having the most guaranteed income programs, presiding over 60 pilot launches.

"As California builds towards permanent GI infrastructure, future research and policy solutions should examine how GI can continue to be a complementary support to the existing public benefit system," the ESP noted on its website in a section titled "A Permanent Pathway for Guaranteed Income in California."

ESP recommended that government agencies consider taxpayer-funded policy options to sustain guaranteed income programs.

more
https://www.foxnews.com/media/california-guaranteed-income-advocacy-group-recommends-permanent-policy-funded-dedicated-local-taxes

[Hoodat]

Liberal generosity always comes at the expense of other people's money.

[The_Reader_David]

Unless it completely replaces means-tested poverty programs, a UBI is pointless.  The reason Friedrich Hayek advocated a UBI was that is is the only means of succoring the poor with tax revenues that does not distort the bottom end of the labor market.  As long as there are means-tested programs in which taking a job results in the loss of benefits, the labor market distortion is still there, and overlyaing a UBI is pointless.

Charles Murray ran the numbers and found replacing our current welfare state with a fully Hayekian social safety net (UBI and state-paid catastrophic health insurance, not pre-paid health care like the Left wants, just a program that kicks in to prevent anyone from being bankrupted by illness or injury, while leaving paying for health care in the first instance as a personal responsibility) would be cheaper than what we do now.