&gt;creating two classes of people: givers and receivers, us and them.<p>You get the same effect with basic income.  Those who pay more in taxes than basic income gives and those who don&#x27;t.  You could effectively create a negative income tax that gives the exact same payouts as basic income.<p>x is income, b is basic income, F(x) is tax someone has to pay at x income under the basic income scheme, G(x) is the tax scheme someone has to pay out without basic income that includes some negative taxes.<p>If G(x) = F(x) - b, then x + b - F(x) = x - G(x).  Yes, they are coded up on law a bit differently, but the outcome on everyone&#x27;s pay would be the same.  All that is different is the talking points.  Kinda like how people are charged higher tax rates for not having children currently in the US.