Universal Basic Income

Published on December 18, 2025

Universal basic income has been an eternal debate for decades. On one side, we have major tech leaders like Elon Musk and Sam Altman who predict that AI will replace humans in jobs . Machines will work on their own and generate value. We'll no longer need to work and can live off the money produced by AI.

On the other side, we have politicians, often left-leaning, who think universal basic income is a good idea to reduce poverty and inequality. Just put a tax somewhere so everyone benefits from a lifetime salary without having to work. Magic money will do the job.

If we add up the billions in various taxpayer-funded assistance (pensions, minimum old-age pension, unemployment, activity bonus, housing assistance, social housing, renovation grants, family allowances, student scholarships, welfare benefits, energy vouchers, food vouchers, exceptional back-to-school aid, solidarity vouchers or checks (shoes, sports, culture, vacations...), reduced rates (on transport, shows, culture, etc.)), it must make a colossal sum.

A concrete example: the pension budget

Let's take a concrete example to illustrate the scale of the amounts involved. In France, there are 68 million inhabitants. The pension budget alone represents 414 billion euros per year. If we divided this budget among the entire French population — from newborns to retirees — it would amount to €507 per month per person.

And that's only with the pension budget. We're not even talking yet about the dozens of other existing benefits.

We could eliminate all these other benefits and redistribute these contributions directly to the French people. Not only would this give them more available money, but it would also radically simplify the system. No more multiple service counters, endless forms, and Kafkaesque bureaucracy. A single, automatic payment for everyone.

Advantages of Universal Basic Income

This would already solve plenty of problems. We'd all be equal. No more fraud since everyone will receive the same amount without conditions. Thousands of jobs saved because there'll be no need to manage hundreds of existing benefits. No more offices needed to manage all these employees, etc. This part alone is titanic and would represent additional savings for taxpayers. Plus, these employees can finally be assigned to something useful for society.

Why provide assistance?

We're not savages; it's important to have compassion. What's the purpose of assistance? It's so that during difficult moments in our lives, we don't die of hunger, we have enough to buy a few packets of pasta to feed ourselves and a little money to live in a crappy shared apartment in a lousy neighborhood to avoid being on the streets.

That's the purpose of assistance: giving the small change to help your neighbor in difficulty.

€500 per month is roughly what allows this.

What universal basic income is not

Let's be clear: universal basic income is not meant to replace work or make people believe we can all live without working. Magic money doesn't exist — we can see this clearly with the current economic situation.

The idea is to have a common foundation for everyone through equality. It's in our motto after all: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. This means everyone has the right to the minimum to avoid total misery in case of trouble. Nothing more. You want a good life, a nice house, to go on vacation? You need to work. Universal basic income is just to avoid starving or ending up on the streets when things go wrong.

Advantages for different groups

For minors, we could consider a lower universal basic income of €300, for example. This direct allocation would present several significant advantages: it would financially support families in the education and development of their children, particularly allowing coverage of part of essential expenses like food, clothing, school supplies, and access to educational or sports activities. Moreover, it would drastically simplify administrative management by replacing multiple existing systems (family allowances, school scholarships, cafeteria aid, etc.) with a single, automatic payment, thus reducing management costs.

For retirees, it changes everything. With €500 per month, it prevents drawing too much from savings to pay for groceries and rent. The less savings you have, the more it helps prevent them from melting away too quickly.

And above all, it greatly simplifies retirement: you retire when you want based on your savings and desires. No more need to calculate your quarters down to the decimal or fight with bureaucracy. You have money aside? You leave. You want to keep working? You stay. End of the current Ponzi scheme of pay-as-you-go retirement.

In case of layoff, no more need to depend on arbitrary aid from employment agencies or draw on savings. We receive €500 per month. Enough to limit the damage to our savings. It won't allow us to live and maintain our lifestyle, certainly not, and that's not the goal. But it will prevent squandering our savings in three months if we don't find work.

Tax advantages

And all this would also reduce our tax deductions. Indeed, with universal basic income, there would be no more need to manage hundreds of existing benefits. And we'd each have fewer deductions. It's good for public debt and good for our net salary.

More net salary means more money for ourselves — we can spend and consume more, but especially invest more. Whether in our car, real estate, or other things. Much easier to prepare for retirement. We know what we put aside. We manage it, it makes money, and we decide when to retire.

Conclusion

We finally become independent without being abandoned in the jungle.

A good compromise between survival of the fittest and social assistance. And it's good for the state's finances!