Minimum income programs no magic bullet in poverty battle, report says
OTTAWA — So-called guaranteed minimum income programs, which are meant to help people escape poverty, could inadvertently have the opposite effect — or require large tax increases in order to be effective, a new report says.
A guaranteed minimum income often means different things to different people, but at its core it can be described as a no-strings-attached benefit that governments can provide to their citizens instead of various targeted social benefits.
But such a program isn’t the magic bullet some would like it to be when it comes to eliminating poverty, says the paper, released Wednesday by the left-wing Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives think tank.
Using such a measure to eliminate poverty in Canada could cost anywhere from $49 billion to $177 billion a year in new spending, depending on how much gets clawed back, requiring double-digit tax increases to cover the cost.