Let me elaborate on this point.

Imagine you send out 4 months x $2K = $8K to every Canadian adult.

That would cost about 30million X 8K = $240B.

Many have breezily claimed 'oh we can just claw that back when 2020 taxes are filed in April 2021.

Not actually easy...

Why is 'just claw back the CBI later' not so easy?

->easy to change the legislation

->easy to change the 2020 tax forms--literally not printed yet!

--> easy to administer with regular tax filing.

So...where's the problem? Just think a bit, yeah? https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1247674088350334976

Imagine you're someone who keeps her job all through 2020 and makes $40K. Now imagine you give her $8K in Crisis Basic Income cheques.

Now it is April 2021. Are you going to ask her to cut a cheque to Receiver General for 8K?

No?

Ok, then who has to pay back? Be precise.

Ok, so maybe you say "Gee maybe making a $40K earner pay back $8K of Crisis Basic Income is too rough. How about just those over $100K of income?"

Great. They will still *not* be happy to cut a cheque to the Receiver General for $8K. But maybe you persist.....

Guess how many taxfilers in 2017 (most recent year of data) made over 100K?

9.4% of them.

So if you make only those over $100K pay back their $8K CBI then your CBI still costs $217B.

That's a lot of money sending cheques to people 3/4 of whom didn't actually lose their jobs.

Now, maybe you say "$217B on Crisis Basic Income is great--it's a crisis!"

But that's just the family income support.

You will still need:
-> small biz bailouts
-> big biz bailouts
-> prov/muni bailouts

So, me, I can understand why Finance was reluctant to blow $217B on CBI.

Right. You realize, of course, that if we claw it back more slowly, that actually means the overall cost goes up. So, we're then going to be closer to $240B than $217B. https://twitter.com/mvsyyz/status/1247679306714750976

While I have your attention on the 'Crisis Basic Income', maybe I will also address the other conjecture that advocates hold to with fervent tenacity despite sparse evidence....

...would CBI have been faster than CERB?

Likely no.

Let me explain why.....