Jami on Negative income tax

“The idea of negative income tax is novel: In effect, it's a kind of income tax that works in reverse. For those who earn below a certain amount — like the poverty line — the government pays them. The largest example of NIT is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which serves 27 million working families in the US. It was started in 1975, under President Gerald Ford, expanded once by President Reagan, and expanded further by President Clinton. The EITC functions like a big tax refund. If a family makes below a certain amount each year, the government will refund the tax that was withheld plus an additional amount.”

“In his latest annual letter to shareholders, JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon says the US should "dramatically expand" its current earned-income tax credit, a form of negative income tax that pays low-earners instead of asking them to pay income tax... Dimon's letter echoed his comments at this year's World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, where leaders took to the idea because robotic automation now looms over a growing number of jobs. Governments may need to find ways to supplement people's wages when employers no longer require the employee's specific type of work. Dimon's vision of the near future is different from how most of us think about earning an income.”