Means-Testing is expensive. It requires a bureaucracy of people effectively asking people to prove they need help. Purely from a self-worth point of view, that is not a particularly attractive process. Especially if you are in a society that labels you a failure if you can't provide. It is like the opposite of a job interview. A Universal Basic Income (UBI) would shift the burden of proof to the wealthy. Under a progressive tax system, you assume everyone gets the UBI. Then when there is evidence of someone earning enough, they fall under the existing tax system. All the costs of Means-Testing, both emotional and financial, disappear. A far-sighted community could build a Community Wealth Fund (CWF). Eventually, that wouldn't even require tax to fund it. The dividend from the CWF could pay everyone a UBI. Then all the bureaucracy falls away completely, and people crack on with the good stuff.
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