Mastodawn

They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.🤡

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.🤷🏿‍♂️

The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."

It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.🤡"

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Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸2d ago

@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.

Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.

We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.

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Raymond Russell 2d ago

@realtegan @mekkaokereke
My pet hate.
When you start to "means test" something that really should be universal the means test itself costs money to administer and you create a barrier to some of those who should be benefiting but may not be able to navigate the red tape required for many many reasons.

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craignicol 21h ago

@raymierussell @realtegan @mekkaokereke in Scotland we used to means test prescriptions. It turned out that the money saved couldn't possibly justify the cost of administration (mainly because people on many prescriptions are highly likely to be unable to work) so they just made them free for everyone.

That's how most benefits should work. Although I do have some sympathy for the idea the UK has where everyone gets child benefit but higher rate taxpayers who get it pay more tax.

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craignicol

@raymierussell @realtegan @mekkaokereke 2 big advantages of the means testing by increased tax approach:

1. The people who have to fill out the red tape are likely already doing it - it's 1 additional question in the tax return, and there's no stigma attached to earning more money.

2. By basing it on income tax, it can be progressive and slowly roll from 100% to 0% as your income increases rather than a hard stop which means that for many people getting a job means less money in their pocket