The conservatives often harsh on the "freeloaders" drawn to the safety net in The Netherlands. I haven't looked at it in years and can't speak authoritatively, but your friend's response is one that tracks with reality. What the actual numbers are I couldn't tell you and am fully prepared to believe in smoke and mirrors. As per usual, the tricky bit is in the numbers: the author points out that a basic income in the Netherlands would cost 1/3 of NL's GDP. Not defense budget, not overall tax burden, GDP. In the US, similar measures (give everybody the poverty line) would cost $3.5T, or 25% of our $15T GDP… AKA 5x the defense budget. You don't get there with a flagrantly socialist tax structure, and that's a tough row to hoe from here in the land of Reaganomics.