It was discovered that there is a lobbying group agitated by billionaires behind the ``Bill to ban basic income experiments''

``Universal Basic Income, '' a social security system in which individuals receive a fixed amount of money on a regular and continuous basis without conditions, regardless of gender, age, or income level, is expected to be a solution to issues such as working poverty and the declining birthrate. Experimental implementation is underway in countries around the world. In the United States, more than 150 universal basic income experiments are being carried out in 24 states, but bills to block universal basic income experiments have been submitted in seven states, and a certain group's lobbying efforts are behind it. It is reported that there is.

The Billionaire-Fueled Lobbying Group Behind the State Bills to Ban Basic Income Experiments
https://www.scottsantens.com/billionaire-fueled-lobbying-group-behind-the-state-bills-to-ban-universal-basic-income-experiments-ubi/

In March 2021 and November 2022 , bills to ban universal basic income were introduced in the Texas state legislature in the United States. Both bills contained a provision that ``prohibits ``universal universal basic income,'' which provides periodic, unconditional cash transfers to individual residents of political subdivisions.'' Both bills were ultimately defeated, and as of February 2024, Texas has seven universal basic income experiments underway.

In April 2023, a bill was introduced in Wisconsin to block universal basic income. The bill passed the Wisconsin State Legislature, but was vetoed by then-Governor Tony Evers.

Bills to block universal basic income were also introduced in Iowa in January 2024, and in West Virginia , South Dakota , Arizona , and Arkansas in February of the same year. A blog about universal basic income, UBI Guide, points out that a lobbying group called the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) had members write the bills for both bills.

FGA is an organization founded in Florida in 2011 by Talen Bragdon, who was an advisor to former Maine Governor Paul LePage. 'We want to return America to a country where entrepreneurship flourishes, personal responsibility is rewarded, and where paychecks replace welfare payments,' Bragdon said of the FGA's goals. 'We're tackling one big challenge head-on: how to give Americans life-changing jobs.'

However, former Florida Sen. Cynthia Dill said, ``I remember the FGA as an inexperienced group of right-wing activists passionately advocating for welfare reform. They had no expertise in health and human services.'' '', the UBI Guide evaluates that the content of the claim lacked logic.

In February 2024, the FGA published a paper titled `` Why States Should Ban Universal Basic Income Systems .'' It argues that ``universal basic income sacrifices individual responsibility, reduces the incentive to work, and increases dependence on government benefits.'' However, most of this paper consisted of quotations from literature, and there were almost no claims based on data and logic.

A week after publishing this paper, the FGA published an editorial in Dallas media making similar claims. In this editorial, the FGA cited the results of experiments conducted in the 1970s to deny universal basic income, but the UBI Guide rejects the FGA's conclusions because the conditions are significantly different from experiments conducted in the modern era. doing. In addition, in the universal basic income experiment in Texas announced in February 2024, ``There were cases where households eligible for the benefit improved their housing and working environments, and their standard of living improved.'' Although the results were released, the research report was completely ignored in this editorial.

According to the watchdog Center for Media and Democracy , a wealthy foundation called the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation supports FGA. The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation is a foundation with a total asset value of 5 billion dollars (approximately 750 billion yen), and has donated a total of 17.85 million dollars (approximately 2.7 billion yen) to FGA from 2014 to 2021. . In addition, ``Donors Trust'' established by liberal activists is donating $ 17.2 million (about 2.6 billion yen) from 2014 to 2022. This Donors Trust is said to be called a ' right-wing dark ATM .' It is known that various other support organizations have made large donations to FGA.

UBI Guide argues that the large amount of donations being made to the FGA is simply a tax measure for the wealthy, allowing the FGA to vigorously campaign against universal basic income. In addition, the UBI Guide argued that the introduction of a universal basic income would threaten both the wealthy and the FGA, as it would also lead to higher taxes on the wealthy.