Welfare has always entrenched dependency. It's hard to avoid that outcome.
The first programs had these big "welfare cliffs", where earning an extra dollar could push you out of eligibility entirely, costing you tens of thousands of dollars. They've done a lot to smooth those out in various programs, but they still exist when you mush all the programs together.
The more fundamental problem is that reducing benefits as earnings increase is functionally the same as a very high marginal tax rate: i.e. losing $40 of benefits because you earn an extra $100 is a 40% tax as far as the individual is concerned.
These are all part of the case for replacing the vast morass of entitlements with one simple UBI, which has none of these problems.
Welfare has always entrenched dependency. It's hard to avoid that outcome.
The first programs had these big "welfare cliffs", where earning an extra dollar could push you out of eligibility entirely, costing you tens of thousands of dollars. They've done a lot to smooth those out in various programs, but they still exist when you mush all the programs together.
The more fundamental problem is that reducing benefits as earnings increase is functionally the same as a very high marginal tax rate: i.e. losing $40 of benefits because you earn an extra $100 is a 40% tax as far as the individual is concerned.
These are all part of the case for replacing the vast morass of entitlements with one simple UBI, which has none of these problems.