Adam Smith on Basic Income
The ideas of Adam Smith are often far more progressive than you might expect.
The patrimony of a poor man lies in the strength and dexterity of his hands... and to hinder him from employing this strength and dexterity in what manner he thinks proper without injury to his neighbour, is a plain violation of this most sacred property.
Adam Smith gets to the heart of what is wrong with imposing the highest marginal tax rates on the poorest and provides just one more reason why we should all get behind universal basic income and end the poverty traps built into the current benefit system.