Tag Archive for: CitizensDividend

Untapped wealth of economic rent

/0 Comments/in , /by
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

/0 Comments/in , /by

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.

It’s not welfare, but a Special Purpose Vehicle

/0 Comments/in , /by
One of the things that makes a Citizen’s Dividend different from welfare or a traditional universal basic income is that it doesn’t involve increasing the size or role of government.
Everyone gets a regular stipend generated from the collection of economic rent from things like land and natural resources. But the government isn’t in charge of this extraction and redistribution process.
Instead, it’s a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) doing the work, just like the UK’s Crown Estate. An SPV is an independent organisation that isn’t affected by party politics or government corruption.

The land takes society’s economic and social gains

/0 Comments/in , , /by

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

/0 Comments/in , , /by
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

/0 Comments/in , /by

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

/0 Comments/in /by

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.

Churchill spent a good deal of his life to deliver Economic Rent for UK Citizen

/0 Comments/in /by

Winston Churchill was among many figures throughout history who understood the importance and potential of economic rent.

In a 1909 speech that was addressed to the House of Commons, he delivered his idea of a budget “package” he authored designed to help end poverty in the UK. Part of this package was a proposal to collect some of the economic rent.

This isn’t a very well-known aspect of his life, despite how prescient he was being. Looking back at history, one will find that economic rent collection and redistribution isn’t just a far-fetched or eccentric idea, after all, seeing as how even mainstream figures saw it as important and viable.