And this bill shows that when you do that, everybody does better. What will happen when millions of American families teetering on the edge of financial oblivion suddenly get access to a steady stream of government money, no strings attached?
For two years starting in , this Central Valley city ran one of the first and β at least, early on β one of the largest guaranteed income pilot programs in the country. The brainchild of Michael Tubbs, then the mayor and now an economic adviso r to Gov.
There were no restrictions on how they could spend the money, which came from philanthropic sources. Fast-forward to this month. A pair of independent researchers following the program released data from the first year. So, what does this have to do with the American Rescue Plan?
Well, under it, the child tax credit has been revamped to work a lot like guaranteed income. More parents qualify for the credit too. If the parents use their new windfall the same way Stockton residents used their guaranteed income, it might finally put to rest the long-held notion that providing money to people with no strings attached will remove the incentive to find work and lead to dependence on the government dole and more single-parent households.
Unsurprisingly, this is the exact argument Republicans have been using to try to skewer the American Rescue Plan β and have long used against guaranteed income even as more cities, from Gary, Ind.
