Are Budget Neutral Income Floors Fiscally Viable in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Abstract

We use microsimulations to assess whether budget-neutral universal income floors are fiscally viable in twelve Sub-Saharan African countries. We consider three universal basic income scenarios of decreasing levels of generosity: poverty line, average poverty gap and current spending on transfers and subsidies per person. The first two may not be viable because the required increase in taxes to fulfil budget neutrality is significant.