Welfare Without Taxation - Autonomous production revenues for Universal Basic Income

Abstract

In the face of shifting means of production from manual human labor to labor automation, one solution that stands out is the advancement of a Universal Basic Income, UBI to every citizen from the government with no strings attached. The proposal, however, has encountered sharp criticism from different quarters questioning the morality behind sourcing of funds, largely through taxation, to uphold an institution designed to provide social support. Others also perceive the idea as a form of socialism, or a capitalist road to communism. The current discussion, however, seeks to demonstrate that the provision of such stipend can occur through the utilization of revenues realized from production driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), and to a small extent, philanthropic contributions from the top 1 percent of the population.