A UBI is a good idea, and the pandemic may be a useful excuse for getting it rolling, but the goal must be a permanent national payment, not a temporary or local fix.

A UBI program is like an arch. Unless it is fully formed - universal and permanent - it isn't a UBI program. The salutary effects of a UBI come from people relying on it. Pilot programs prove nothing about a UBI, because they cannot induce reliance, and because they create gaming opportunities vs. in neighboring jurisdictions. Whatever these pilot programs are, they are not UBIs.

I found the discussion of a wealth tax wholly gratuitous. I don't give a rat's patoot about "critics" who care only that the rich get taken down. An estate tax will be sufficient to break up dynasties. Otherwise, one of the key points of MMT is that you don't have to tax the rich to help the poor. To the extent that taxes are necessary to offset inflation, those taxes should be levied in the most efficient way. Taxing accumulated (after-tax) wealth, except at death, is not that way.