guaranteed minimum income

tax law

Also known as: negative income tax

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

June 29, 2026

Quick Summary

A guaranteed minimum income, often referred to as Universal Basic Income (UBI), is a social welfare program that provides residents with a regular, unconditional income. The core idea is to establish a financial safety net, ensuring everyone has a baseline to cover essential needs.1

This concept has historical roots, with proposals dating back centuries. In modern times, it's been discussed as a potential solution to poverty, income inequality, and the anticipated job displacement caused by automation and artificial intelligence.1

A related concept is the negative income tax, which integrates government payments into the tax structure for low-income families. This system aims to provide a guaranteed minimum income adjusted for family size, with payments decreasing as a family's earned income increases. While UBI is unconditional, a negative income tax is tied to income levels and the tax system.21

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

3 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

social security
Negative income tax
Partly because of the stigma attached to social assistance, the difficulty the potential beneficiaries have in understanding eligibility, and their reluctance to apply, it is often proposed that the information provided to the state from income tax returns should be used by…
Read More
Partly because of the stigma attached to social assistance, the difficulty the potential beneficiaries have in understanding eligibility, and their reluctance to apply, it is often proposed that the information provided to the state from income tax returns should be used by…
Read More

income tax
The negative income tax
The idea of a negative income tax has been considered in the United States as a method of providing very-low-income families with a stable subsistence level of income in the form of government payments geared into the individual income tax structure. It…
Read More
The idea of a negative income tax has been considered in the United States as a method of providing very-low-income families with a stable subsistence level of income in the form of government payments geared into the individual income tax structure. It…
Read More