Compton Pledge began distributing monthly guaranteed income payments to a "pre-verified" pool of low-income residents, in a program gauged for a maximum of 800 recipients, at which point it will be one of the larger among 25 U.S. cities exploring this approach to community economics. Beginning in December 2021, Tacoma, Washington piloted "Growing Resilience in Tacoma" (GRIT), a guaranteed income initiative that provides $500 a month to 110 families. GRIT is part of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Guaranteed Income Research larger study. A report on the results of the GRIT experiment will be published in 2024. Response to COVID-19 As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impact, universal basic income and similar proposals such as helicopter money and cash transfers were increasingly discussed across the world. Most countries implemented forms of partial unemployment schemes, which effectively subsidized workers' incomes without a work requirement. Around ninety countries including the United States, Spain, Hong Kong, and Japan introduced temporary direct cash transfer programs to their citizens. In Europe, a petition calling for an "emergency basic income" gathered more than 200,000 signatures, and polls suggested widespread support in public opinion for it. Unlike the various stimulus packages of the US administration, the EU's stimulus plans did not include any form of income-support policies. Pope Francis has stated in response to the economic harm done to workers by the pandemic that "this may be the time to consider a universal basic wage". Basic income vs negative income tax The diagram shows a basic income/negative tax system combined with flat income tax (the same percentage in tax for every income level). Y is here the pre-tax salary given by the employer and y''' is the net income.Negative income taxFor low earnings, there is no income tax in the negative income tax system. They receive money, in the form of a negative income tax, but they don't pay any tax. Then, as their labour income increases, this benefit, this money from the state, gradually decreases. That decrease is to be seen as a mechanism for the poor, instead of the poor paying tax.Basic incomeThat is however not the case in the corresponding basic income system in the diagram. There everyone typically pays income taxes. But on the other hand, everyone also gets the same amount of basic income.But the net income is the sameBut, as the orange line in the diagram