We can either collect a lot of taxes to fund UBI and essentially give people a check to do nothing OR we can (1) raise the minimum wage to a living wage AND (2) also collect a lot of taxes to fund public-sector, low-skilled jobs to guarantee that anyone who is willing to work can earn enough money to live on even if it means they’re working in gov’t day care centers, hospices, removing graffiti, picking up trash, etc. My argument would be that it’s far better to spend the same amount of tax money for wages and (A) make people work for their money than just get it as a gift and (B) also get some real value (cleaner streets, available day care, etc.) for the tax money we’re spending.

— David Grace