The government already distributes money to people in the form of subsidies. UBI is just a different form of subsidy. In the case of UBI, its the profits from automation subsidizing the poor.
"The root problem is an unfavorable distribution of wealth and income toward asset holders. Stop taxing labor."
The problem UBI is trying to solve is one where more and more people will become unemployed because of automation. It is not trying to level the playing field.
Then the problem is that we've overdone it, relative to our current automation level. The amount of free money you can get is high enough that more people are choosing not to work than jobs have been automated away so far.
"The root problem is an unfavorable distribution of wealth and income toward asset holders. Stop taxing labor."
The problem UBI is trying to solve is one where more and more people will become unemployed because of automation. It is not trying to level the playing field.