Andrew Yang’s freedom dividend is not just basic income, it’s the first time that a candidate is giving back to us our tax money to invest in what we think we or our community needs the most. We’ve heard in the past many well-intentioned candidates promise massive overhauls that sound great (e.g., student loan forgiveness), but we’ve all seen that once the idea grinds to Congress after a grueling 2 year process, the result is underwhelming. As president, Yang is simply saying “Forget all that. I’ll give you your part of a progressive tax to spend month to month.”

Imagine one month a tornado rolls through your town and you, with your community, decide that you will gather the money to help out the elderly repair their homes. The next month, when you need money for food or health bills, you spend your dividend on that. It is important to note that this doesn’t mean that all issues can be solved this way, but that a part of the tax burden given back to the people to spend as they see fit seems to be a powerful idea.

Prateeque George

Iowa City