Unconditional Basic Income in the Czech Republic: What Type of Taxes Could Fund It? A Theoretical Tax Analysis

Abstract

This paper contains a summary of public support for the idea of unconditional basic income in the Czech Republic in the first part. Interest in unconditional income can be found both in the Czech political sphere and in the social sciences community. In the second part, the article theoretically analyzes the possible sources of unconditional basic income funding. The aim of this paper is to support argumentation in favor of the implementation of BI by a systematic analysis of the real possibilities of its funding through the state tax revenues. The feasibility of funding a BI scheme using taxes on labor, property, consumption, environmental taxes, financial transaction tax, and tax on the transfer of information is considered. Consideration is also given to administrative savings that the basic income system could bring. Due to political enforceability of BI, it is important to contemplate and discuss the distortions and other problems of proposed changes in taxation, which would not be negligible as can be expected.

Toward a green income support policy: investigating social and fiscal alternatives for Turkey

“… 3 See Arcarons et al 2014, Widerquiest 2017b, Specianova 2018, and Gan 2019 for examples of comprehensive analysis of BI schemes with cost estimates and alternative funding solutions. …”

Questioning the feasibility and justice of basic income accounting for migration

“… 5. Other authors opted to shed light on basic income feasibility issues with the help of case study micro-simulations and general equilibrium analyses (Gan, 2019; Honkanen, 2014; Magnani and Piccoli, 2020; Mideros and O’Donoghue, 2015; Špeciánová, 2018b; Yunker, 2013). …”