AN ALBERTA GUARANTEED BASIC INCOME: ISSUES AND OPTIONS.

For all the job booms and wealth that have benefitted Alberta over the decades, nothing yet has been able to drastically reduce, let alone eliminate poverty in the province. The prospect of a guaranteed minimum income could help change that, and Alberta is particularly well positioned to roll one out and with relative ease and at a manageable cost. An Alberta guaranteed basic income could be straightforwardly developed by revising the existing provincial tax system to make tax credits that are currently non-refundable into refundable tax credits, such that people earning below the minimum income-tax threshold will still be able to claim them as subsidies. This can be done while avoiding significant new funding and relying solely on budgetary measures to improve the fairness of the tax system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]