The Latest and Biggest Universal Basic Income News:
‣ This Year’s International Basic Income Congress Has Been Moved From the US to Canada
‣ Nearly 30,000 Americans have received about $335 million in Basic Income So Far
‣ New Study: Poverty-Line UBI Could Cost 2.7% of US GDP—down sharply since 1967
‣ Richard Murphy’s U-Turn on UBI: The Multiplier Math Finally Made it Click
‣ NYC Is Testing Guaranteed Basic Income of $1,200 a Month for Homeless Youths
‣ Guaranteed Basic Income Task Force Formed in Hoboken, NJ by Executive Order
‣ Ann Arbor’s $528/mo Basic Income: Most Spent It on Food, Essentials, and Housing
Basic Income Article Highlight
It seems that every year on MLK Day, there’s at least another new article about his support and advocacy for UBI. This year out of the handful I read, this one in The Conversation was my favorite, because it covered the solid strategy MLK believed in to cross racial divides.
We have data that now backs MLK’s coalition strategy: rich whites with high racial resentment are the hard opposition. But among lower-income whites, even the resentful ones, economic self-interest often wins. They’ll back a universal benefit that helps them too. Add higher-income whites low in resentment, and we’ve got a cross-class, cross-race majority that targeted welfare policies lack.
You can read the article here.
ITSA Foundation Update:
Bootstraps is getting closer and closer to its first two episodes being finalized and is actively being submitted to festivals in anticipation of its global debut and finding a home on a streaming platform where it will hopefully later this year help millions of people better understand the concept of basic income through lived American experience stories.
Comingle continues to progress towards initial invites to the beta phase where it will expand beyond us initial three users already sharing real money between each other. Here’s a preview of what it looks like right now for me personally as a member of the early beta to give you all a preview.
One of the biggest challenges to making Comingle scale up will be finding those who want to be net payers to the community, so if that describes you as it describes me, please start right now by becoming a monthly ITSA donor in support of Comingle.
Also, we are now able to accept donations of stock and crypto via Every.org. That could be the best option for some of you. Talk with your tax advisor to help determine that.
This Year’s International Basic Income Congress Has Been Moved From the US to Canada [link]
Due to what’s going on in the US right now, a decision was made by BIEN to relocate the 2026 Congress from Philadelphia, PA to Toronto, Canada
The Congress will now take place at Toronto Metropolitan University from 19–22 August 2026, instead of 27-29 of July as previously planned
The first ever international basic income conference was held in 1986 in Belgium, and this year was to be the first year it was ever held in the United States
Nearly 30,000 Americans have received about $335 million in Basic Income So Far [link]
More than 250 lawmakers are now part of a coalition of mayors, county officials, and state legislators advocating for guaranteed basic income pilots, which have now provided over $335 million in economic relief to about 30,000 Americans
Since 2020, lawmakers have implemented at least 72 pilots in 26 states, according to the coalition which has received at least preliminary reports from 27 pilots
Not a single pilot has resulted in reduced work, and basic income recipients are less stressed and more likely to find long-term employment than non-recipients
New Study: Poverty-Line UBI Could Cost 2.7% of US GDP—down sharply since 1967 [link]
A UBI of $16,000 per adult and $8,000 per child with a 50% marginal tax rate has a net cost of $783.7B/year, about 2.67% of GDP (using 2024 data)
The net cost as a share of GDP has fallen for 50+ years—from 9.35% (1967) to 2.67% (2024), meaning a poverty-line UBI is now under a third of the 1967 cost
This UBI plan would drop the official poverty rate from 10.6 % to 0 %, eliminating poverty for 35.9 million Americans (including 10.5 million children)
The net cost of this UBI plan is less than one-sixth (16.14 %) of its often-mentioned but not-very-meaningful gross cost ($4.86 trillion)
Richard Murphy’s U-Turn on UBI: The Multiplier Math Finally Made it Click [link]
After a conversation with Howard Reed and Elliott Johnson of the Common Sense Policy Group in the UK, Richard J. Murphy is thinking differently about UBI, especially one that starts small
He now sees UBI as removing welfare’s worst disincentives (cliff edges, poverty traps, fear of losing support) and creating the security people need to retrain, take risks, and build lives without one mistake turning into collapse
He was also moved by evidence that both public investment and even day-to-day spending have much bigger multiplier effects than assumed—meaning spending can “pay for itself” through a larger economy and higher tax revenues
NYC Is Testing Guaranteed Basic Income of $1,200 a Month for Homeless Youths [link]
New York City is home to more than 6,800 homeless youths. Sixty of them since December have been receiving monthly basic income of $1,200 plus a lump sum of $5,000 after they were selected at random to participate in “Cash with Care.”
A similar pilot launched during the pandemic in June 2021 also offered monthly basic income to a few dozen homeless young people in the city and 90% of participants said the monthly income floor helped them find stable housing
The senior VP of support services for the org behind the pilot said he initially had doubts, but has now come around: “I’m not at a 180 but I’m at a 160. Watching the young people’s lightbulb come on about finances has been a real thing.”
Guaranteed Basic Income Task Force Formed in Hoboken, NJ by Executive Order [link]
Outgoing Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla has signed an executive order to form a Guaranteed Basic Income Task Force, which establishes a pilot program to strengthen the financial stability of low-income residents
The mayoral action also states that a portion of revenue generated by the Cannabis Transfer Tax could support the pilot program
The task force will be responsible for developing eligibility criteria, monthly payment levels, pilot duration, additional funding strategies, evaluation standards, community outreach and more
Ann Arbor’s $528/mo Basic Income: Most Spent It on Food, Essentials, and Housing [link]
A 2-year Ann Arbor GBI pilot gave $528/month to 100 low-income gig workers/entrepreneurs starting Jan 2024, with a 100-person comparison group; payments ended Dec 2025 and the final evaluation is due by end of 2026
One year into Ann Arbor’s guaranteed income pilot program, the most common uses of the monthly payments were food, household supplies, and housing, according to a new report from the University of Michigan
One participant highlighted how the financial cushion was beneficial to their entrepreneurial efforts, stating, “It’s hard to be inspired or to think creatively or to be a change maker when you’re constantly just hustling.”
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Scott Santens
President & CEO, ITSA Foundation
