As Ireland’s $1,500-a-month basic income pilot program for creatives nears its end in February, officials have to answer a simple question: Is it worth it?
With four months to go, they say the answer is yes.
Earlier this month, Ireland’s government announced its 2026 budget, which includes “a successor to the pilot Basic Income Scheme for the Arts to begin next year” among its expenditures.
Ireland is just one of many places experimenting with guaranteed basic income programs, which provide recurring, unrestricted payments to people in a certain demographic. These programs differ from a universal basic income, which would provide payments for an entire population.
This should be the default for anybody in the world. From there on work if you want more. We are social, economical and technologically capable of doing it. Is the 1% the ones preventing it from happening.
In France, the biggest hurdle is our pension system that stifles education, health, and infrastructure spending but even the electorate wants the boomers to earn more when they already get 110% of what working people do. Still the UK’s triple lock might make them more of a gerantocracy in the future. Also note that if you read the official statistics for pensions in Grance the ones by gov workers are counted towards the budget of said institution. So now 90% of new education spending is actually getting to boomers. 1/4 is already for them. 1/3 of military spending too etc
France is a tax haven for millionaires why do you complain ?
Deeply unserious comment. France is one of the countries in which the system is the most distributive and the taxes the highest.
You fail to mention how fair the taxes and redistribution are, and they are ever more unfair every passing year.
It is very swrious and it is a good reason to tax the rich. And they just decide they shouldn’t.