Comment by Kevin Milligan

There are three potential targets for a Basic Income. We want to ameliorate poverty with a big basic transfer. We also want to improve work incentives by lowering the clawback rate on income-tested benefits for low earners. Finally, we want to work within the existing envelope of income transfer programs so we don’t need to raise taxes. All three are attractive features, but it’s impossible to satisfy all three at once. That is, there is an impossible trinity—you can only satisfy two of the three attributes.