BACK TO BASICS

Re Basic income isn’t the best way to create a just and inclusive society (May 5): David Green and Lindsay Tedds too readily dismiss the feasibility and likely superior outcomes of a Basic Income Guarantee. CERB illustrated that our tax system can be flexible, automatic tax filing is to be piloted soon, and people who need it can be helped to file their taxes. Numerous experiments around the world have demonstrated that cash transfers encourage entrepreneurship, improve local economies and lead to savings in health and criminal justice costs among other benefits. History has shown that attempts to increase social benefits and reform the labour market have not adequately reduced poverty in Canada. Let’s let go of the myth that people won’t work if they aren’t under threat of dire poverty, and instead implement Basic Income Guarantee demonstration projects such as the one proposed for Prince Edward Island.

■ Carol Stalker Waterloo, Ont.