Guaranteed income programs let participants use funds however they see fit. Critics argue they’re not a good use of taxpayer dollars.

Guaranteed income programs have become more popular since the pandemic as dozens of cities across the country launched pilot programs using federal COVID-19 relief funds. Whereas other welfare funds like food stamps and housing vouchers provide assistance for specific expenses, guaranteed income programs allow recipients to decide how they spend the money. Researchers have found them to be an effective way to combat poverty.

In recent years, a handful of Texas cities and counties have piloted their own guaranteed income programs for low-income households. Financed by a combination of federal, local and philanthropic funds, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso County have collectively issued about $9 million in payments to roughly 1,500 households since 2020.

But the notion is facing stiff opposition from conservatives who say these programs are a bad use of taxpayers’ money and amount to government overreach. Attorney General Ken Paxton recently sued Harris County to block its guaranteed income program, Uplift Harris. The Texas Supreme Court indefinitely paused the pilot while the case goes to trial. Financed by funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, the program would have provided almost 2,000 households in the area’s poorest neighborhoods with $500 a month for 18 months.

  • buttfarts@lemy.lol
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    18 days ago

    If you punish undesirables they will rise to the occasion seems to be the conservative ideology that never ever works. Like not teaching sex ed increases abortions and single mothers instead of reducing them.

    The do everything ass-backwards that accomplishes the opposite of what they want and then ignore the consequences

    • IzzyScissor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      18 days ago

      They’ve convinced themselves their (absolutely wrong) choice is the ‘morally correct’ one. Even LISTENING to a contradictory argument is seen as a moral ‘corruption’, so they just … don’t.