I think $15k would be a better figure, as it wouldn't let you live so comfortably and therefore there would still be an incentive to go out and work.

McDonalds and Walmart would probably go out of business, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We would be left with higher end restaurants where people are paid a good salary to work somewhere that they enjoy.

Though, when people aren't having to work dead-end jobs to survive, maybe they could take time to prepare food properly and cheaply instead of buying "convenient" $5 burgers?

I think it's impossible to know for sure whether basic income would be financially viable unless you actually implement it.

If you're a couple, double that, $2k/mo will get you a wonderful place to stay. It'll be difficult to build a savings, or to have a few children, but it'll go a long way, and I think it'll highly discourage people from working after graduating.

Now, I don't think everyone needs to work in our society, but that's another can of worms.

Your milage may vary. Living in rural Canada, I calculated my expenditures to be under $20,000 last year. I don't feel I'm living in poverty at all (I have a developer's income if I want/need to spend more). My only concern is that $20K would not leave much room to save for the future, but if the income is guaranteed for the rest of your life, perhaps that is less of a concern?

Then who do you think is going to do the part-time minimum-wage jobs?

No one. They can just get more money for doing nothing.

Obviously, employers will start paying a lot more for part-time menial jobs, or go out of business. All of a sudden, Canadians will be asking "Why did everything get so expensive?" and "Why can't teens find jobs these days?"

If "Basic Income" is implemented the way I understand it, the income from a part-time minimum wage job would stack on top of it (minus some amount of tax).

The idea isn't that you make more by not working. The idea is that you can live (not very comfortably) without working, and that every bit of work you do marginally improves your income and therefore your comfort level. This makes part-time minimum-wage jobs a reasonable target for people who want slightly more amenities than they can afford at the basic income level.

Based on the comments here, I don't think this proposal is for basic income. Rather, if you already make more than 20K, you don't get anything.

1) Stay unemployed and live off 20k/yr. 2) Work a min wage job and live off 40k/yr.

Many people will choose option 2.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p70-135.pdf

If this was per adult in the UK then I'd be getting a substantial income boost over what I'm earning at present.

    21 and over:    £6.31
    18 to 20:       £5.03
    Under 18:       £3.72
    Apprentice*:    £2.68

    6.31 * 40 * 52 = £13,124.80 per year  - for over 20s.
    5.03 * 40 * 52 = £10,462.40 per year  - for 18 to 20 year olds.
    3.72 * 40 * 52 =  £7,737.60 per year  - for under 18 year olds.

Thanks for caring enough to give that information though.