Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes wants to give low-income Americans $500 a month, no strings attached — and he’s convinced it will boost the economy

Under Hughes’ plan, laid out in his new book “Fair Shot“:

• “Government should provide a guaranteed income of $500 a month to every adult who lives in a household making less than $50,000 per year and who is working in some way.”
• Included in the definition of “worker” are those taking care of young children or an impaired aging adult full time, or adults in college full-time.
• A tax on the richest Americans. Hughes defines those as people $250,000 or more a year, and suggests this group would have income in their highest tax bracket taxed at 50%.
• Dollar amounts for both the monthly check and the $50,000 or less requirement would be subject to adjustment based on a state’s population.
• It would cost the federal government $290 billion, making it the fourth-largest federal social benefit.
• He is open to starting with a guaranteed income of as little as $150 per month.

While the plan can still be considered “radical” depending on your politics, Hughes considers it a “modest” alternative to a universal basic income (UBI), in which every citizen receives a guaranteed income.

“So UBI is a big-picture ideal that motivates a lot of people, including myself, to think about 2030, 2040, in the future,” he told us. “Today, however, I think a guaranteed income of $500 a month to people who make $50,000 or less — so a more modest starter version, if you will — is what’s most required. And that’s because I believe that a guaranteed income is the most powerful way to combat income inequality.”

Hughes portrays the idea not as an act of charity, but as a way to grow the economy by reviving impoverished communities and encouraging employment — this belief is supported by research from the Roosevelt Institute, though under a different form of a guaranteed income.

While Hughes’ version of a guaranteed income is coming from a liberal perspective, there are other versions from the right — particularly among libertarian thinkers — that would look similar to Hughes’ plan. In alternate proposals, that money would come not from a tax increase, but from the reduction of other federal welfare programs.

His main vehicle for his advocacy is his Economic Security Project think tank, which he cofounded in 2016. It is already working with the mayor of Stockton, California on a guaranteed income experiment designed to bring new energy to the community and lower unemployment by rewarding work when it would otherwise seem like an endless struggle.

Hughes told us that in the last couple years he’s been reflecting on the strange turn of events in his life that began with the luck of being Zuckerberg’s roommate.

He said: “As a result, I made a boatload of money for three years’ worth of work, and as much as people might want to see the American dream in that, I actually think it’s indicative of the fact that a small number of people are getting extremely lucky, while 99% of everybody else is working hard and is having a harder and harder time to make ends meet, and we have the power to change it.”