Tag Archive for: Universal Basic Income

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.

A Citizen’s Dividend has the potential of having bipartisan support

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A Citizen’s Dividend has the potential of having bipartisan support. Regardless of whether you’re left or right, chances are there’s nothing in a Citizen’s Dividend that conflicts with your beliefs.

The left will appreciate its way of providing a social safety net for everyone, while the right will be happy that it doesn’t support the big government or hurt business.

Regardless of political allegiance, anyone can support this system of endless income.

It’s not welfare, but a Special Purpose Vehicle

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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.