Basic income

Japan's billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is giving away $ 9 million to his Twitter followers to see if the money will make them happier, Reuters reported.
He describes his initiative as a "social experiment".

Maezawa will give one million yen ($ 9,000) to 1,000 of his followers. They will be randomly selected from those who retweeted a Jan. 1 post.

This month's budget spending on the "social dividend" is seen reaching up to 200 million euros, against the announced 175 million, as the government is examining the possibility of expanding the number of recipients of the handout from the primary budget surplus overrun.

The reason for it - their parents' annual income is not high enough.
It was first announced back in September, and in the meantime, parents have formed a group "Parents of Malta" and have asked the authorities to accept their applications or provide them with written evidence that they were rejected both in September and this month, paper "The Times of Malta" reports.

The state budget continued on its course toward a primary surplus overrun in October too, with Finance Ministry officials estimating this will top the 346 million euros estimated in next year's budget and get quite close to 400 million instead for the whole of 2019.

Finance Ministry sources have noted that the so-called social dividend will go toward the weakest social groups, such as the unemployed and people on low wages, and not just retirees with low pensions.

In just one year some 400,000 "guests" have vanished from the income tax declarations of Greek taxpayers; they used to be declared as "hosted individuals" staying rent-free in the homes of other taxpayers.

Futurism.com - Sorry, basic income. Finland is simply just not that into you.

Well, the Finnish government in particular.

Guaranteed minimum income will rise to BGN 75 from January 1, 2018, the government decided, reported BGNES.

The new size is BGN 10  more than it is at present. The aim is to improve the social protection system of the most vulnerable groups.

From the beginning of the next year, the monthly allowance for people with disabilities for rehabilitation and spa treatment increases from 195 to 225 levs. To this end, the Cabinet should approve the proposal to lift the guaranteed minimum income by BGN 10.

Even Public Power Corporation (PPC) looks set to be among the recipients of the so-called social dividend for 2017 - part of the amount above the primary budget surplus target that the government and the country's creditors agreed last week could reach up to 1.1 billion euros.