a shared base income

Ben WallaceTwitter - http://twitter.com/#!/BenDWallaceLinkedIn - http://nz.linkedin.com/in/benwallace13

An Unconditional Income – A Shared Base Income


Introduction

• Different terms: Shared base income, Basic income guarantee, Universal income, Grundeinkommen, Guaranteed income, Citizen's income, Unconditional basic income, Negative income tax, …

• A universal income for all above the age of entitlement (say 11 years).

• A base income giving some security to all.


Funding

• Four main means of funding: 1.Through a value added tax on goods and

services (such as VAT or GST), 2.Through direct taxation on incomes (personal

and corporate), 3.Through rebates on income tax so to maintain

a base level of income (a negative income tax),

4.Or through some form of tax on capital (land-plant), …


Funding

• Also other methods, such as land value taxation (http://www.theiu.org/), taxes more directly redistributing wealth, taxes on speculation and banks, dividends on carbon credits, and through money creation, …


A Shared Base Income

• Is based in a half share of all the income from trade in goods and services.

• This means a 50% tax on salaries and wages, and business profits.

• A half share is simple and so easier to implement than many tiers and forms of taxation.

• It can also be thought more transparently fairer, as it half for me and half for you.


Level of Income

• It begins small, but the contribution it enables increases its value.

• It rises and falls with the rises and falls in national income, making national income a direct and realisable matter for all.

• Thus it encourages a sense of community, even in large populations.


A Simpler System

• An shared base income might eventually replace the welfare system of multiple allowances.

• It is compatible with less state spending on health and education.

• It is compatible with greater use of the internet for self-education and health diagnosis.


An Ethical System

• A shared base income is part of an ethical economic system that operates for ‘fulfilment without harm’.

• Helps equalise opportunity.• Organises sharing.• Recognises the factor of luck in what abilities we

inherit and how fortunate we are.• Treats everyone as a human being entitled to life

as a right.• Can create a sense of obligation to give back.


A Better Incentive• Changing the primary incentive of our

system from money to fulfilment.

• Enables people to choose more flexibility and greater leisure.

• Encourages the greater automation and mechanisation of tasks.

• Enables more volunteering and greater community participation…


A Better Incentive

• Removes the stigma associated with unemployment and other benefits.

• Diminishes crime through a shared sense of belonging.

• Can help people break from abusive situations.

• Means people can choose to contribute and work at their ‘own job’.


Common Questions (Critiques)

• Would people still work?

• Can we afford it?


Examples

• No actual unconditional income has yet been introduced in any one nation; however, …

• Alaska – The Alaska Dividend. • Brazil – ReCivitas NGO.• Iran – partial BIG to replace oil subsidies.• American & Canadian negative income tax

experiments in the ’70s.• Africa, …


Exponents

• Bernard Russell,“…a certain small income, sufficient for necessaries, should be secured to all, whether they work or not…” Proposed Roads To Freedom (1918)


Exponents

• John Kenneth Galbraith (economist), “…provision of a basic income as a matter of general right… If the individual cannot find (or does not seek) employment, he or she has this income on which to survive.”The Affluent Society (1958)


Exponents

• Martin Luther King, Jr.,“I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective - the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: The Guaranteed Income.” Where Do We Go From Here? (1967)


Exponents

• Philippe Van Parijs (Belgian political economist),“A basic income is an income paid by a political community to all its members on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement.”Basic Income: A Simple and Powerful Idea for the 21st Century (2000)., Redesigning Distribution.


Exponents

• Götz Werner (German tycoon) “…the point of an income is to enable [people] to work [contribute], rather than income being the reason for working.”Grundeinkommen (2008)http://dotsub.com/view/26520150-1acc-4fd0-9acd-169d95c9abe1


Grundeinkommen

• In the film people are asked if they would continue to work if an unconditional basic income were introduced, and the results of a survey are given. Sixty percent say they would continue to go to work as before. Thirty percent would continue but part-time or in a different job. Ten percent say they would take a break and then do something different like looking after others or studying.

• But asked if they thought other people would go to work, eighty percent said, 'No, it would be impossible to get others to work if there was a basic income.'


Movements

• BIEN (Basic Income Earth Network) & affiliates…

• Germany – Netzwerk Grundeinkommon.

• Brazil – ReCivitas NGO.

• UK - Green Party (Citizens Income), Citizens Income Trust, …

• …


Further Information

• A Shared Base Income – www.thecommonpurpose.com; www.oursystem.info

• Universal Income sites – www.bien. , http://www.livableincome.org/index.htm

• Political Party Advocates http://younggreens.greenparty.org.uk/AboutUs/Policy/CitizensIncome

• Journal – 'Basic Income Studies' http://www.bepress.com/bis/

• US BIG Newsletter ([email protected]) www.usbig.net

a shared base income

Economy & Finance