&gt; A basic income can be funded by taxing bad things...<p>The author is assuming that you can increase revenue by imposing new taxes, but that is rarely true. Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP has been nearly constant for the last 70 years, even as tax policy has fluctuated all over the place[1].<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.taxpolicycenter.org&#x2F;taxfacts&#x2F;displayafact.cfm?Docid=205" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.taxpolicycenter.org&#x2F;taxfacts&#x2F;displayafact.cfm?Doc...</a>