The homeless newspaper sellers of San Francisco

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Entrepreneurs John Bird and Gordon Roddick once gave homeless people the opportunity to sell magazines and make money.

These homeless people very quickly realized that locations made far more of a difference than hard work in how many copies they can sell. Eventually, fights broke out for control over the best locations.

This example is a microcosm for how something as simple as locations can create unearned advantages for people residing in those locations. The unearned wealth that these unearned advantages generate is the source of economic rent. It is what powers the wealth that can be generated for all through a Citizen’s Dividend.

Economic rent as an alternative and better source of wealth

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Taxes are typically thought of as the traditional source of money needed for a universal basic income (UBI). The problem is that a UBI means you’re taxed more than you normally are taxed.

A Citizen’s Dividend is a UBI but without the usual taxation. Instead, it uses economic rent from land and other forms of the commons as its money generator.

This rent has the potential to give you an even bigger annual stipend than traditional UBIs ever can. It won’t just keep you alive; it can make you rich.

A system of social prosperity guaranteed by human activity

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A Citizen’s Dividend aims to give everyone an annual stipend that is enough to guarantee a humane and decent existence.

This stipend is generated from the collection and redistribution of economic rent taken from land value, as well as rents from oil, minerals, license fees and other forms of the commons.

Such a system of economic rent, once put into place in society, is practically self-sustaining. It doesn’t need any specific politician or political party to stay in power to keep the system active. It keeps itself alive simply through human activity ensuring there is always enough economic rent to collect to make everyone happy.

Untapped wealth of economic rent

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What is simultaneously favourable for business, good for security, fit for mental health, and beneficial for social welfare?
An economic policy that collects a country’s untapped wealth of economic rent, from land and other sources of the commons. The rent is then redistributed to every citizen — yes, every citizen — of that country.
Properly implemented, this wealth from economic rent is so bountiful that it can even replace taxes altogether. In addition to giving everyone a universal basic income (only better because it doesn’t require higher taxes to be funded). Everyone wins this way.

A Citizen’s Dividend aims to give everyone a form of universal income

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Economic rent, put simply, is a sort of unearned income. The benefits a farmer gets from having land that just so happens to be more fertile. The farmer can produce more fruits and vegetables. It is an unearned form of income.

A Citizen’s Dividend aims to give everyone a form of universal income.

It is the income financed from all the accumulated economic rent throughout society, particularly when it comes to economic rent from land.

It has all the benefits of traditional welfare or a universal basic income. The difference is Citizen’s Dividend gives people more than what these traditional big government systems do without needing to raise taxes for anyone.

The land takes society’s economic and social gains

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Throughout history, land has always been underutilized due to the way in which its boundless economic surplus is rarely ever used (or even recognised) for its full potential to uplift society.

The same applies to other forms of the commons, like natural resources or even the airwaves. These commons can generate enough surplus to give society the wealth it needs to eliminate eight-hour workdays or even make taxation altogether obsolete.

Most people unfortunately are unaware of how much potential there is in the surplus from the commons. It can even generate enough money to give everyone in your country a healthy annual stipend to keep you and future generations financially secure.

a Citizen’s Dividend makes you wealthy

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The nature of government welfare means that a person reliant on welfare barely scrapes by while on it.
There may be individual cases of people abusing welfare to enrich themselves.
But, on a system-wide basis, large chunks of people on welfare can’t become wealthy.
On the other hand, the potential wealth generated by a Citizen’s Dividend (collected and redistributed from economic surplus from the commons) means that individuals can have decent lives with a humane source of income.
They won’t become millionaires from it alone, but they also won’t have to just live on table scraps like with traditional welfare.

The best way to mitigate COVID Era unemployment

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The pandemic has disrupted the global economy. That cannot be understated. According to a World Economic Forum report from 15 July 2021, youth employment throughout 2020 increased to 8.7% and a total of 255 million full-time jobs were lost worldwide due to the pandemic.

A guaranteed annual stipend generated by the collection and redistribution of the economic surplus from land and other forms of the commons (or, as we like to call it, a “Citizen’s Dividend”) is an effective way to help people get through these difficult times.

Land alone has enough untapped surplus value that can be distributed to everyone to help keep them stay afloat during particularly rainy days.

A self-regenerating well that never dries up

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A Citizen’s Dividend by its very nature can never run out. It will generate economic rent as long as society and human activity exist.

This economic rent can be collected and distributed back to the people. This in turn encourages people to do more trade, commerce and the like.

Which means even more economic rent is generated. It’s all part of a positive feedback loop that ensures everyone gets a steady and practically endless source of income.