Like many social assistance policies, opposition to guaranteed income is driven by a deep-seated fear of fraud — of “freeloaders” benefiting from the taxes of hard-working, morally upright citizens. Our collective delusion that we live in a meritocracy is operationalized into a punitive framework that rationalizes who deserves help and who does not.
As a result, we spend enormous administrative effort policing eligibility, while leaving many people without adequate help. Poverty persists not because we lack resources, but because we mistrust the people who need them.
