The revenue side of a universal basic income in the EU and euro area

Abstract

This paper tries to answer the question of whether universal basic income on the European level is a realistic option or an illusion. As UBI implies a much larger EU budget and a redistribution of collected budget revenues, the chance of introducing UBI depends on the required redistribution - the larger the redistribution, the lower the chance. The chance is indirectly assessed by an exercise in which 50 percent of actual tax revenues generated by indirect taxes of member states is collected at the center and distributed equally to all citizens. Though the net costs to the rich are relatively modest, the results indicate that the idea of introducing UBI on the European level is an illusion.