Citizen's dividend

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about a special case of
socialist concept, see Social dividend. For the policy of unconditional stipend in general, see Universal basic income
.
Thomas Paine was a major inspiration for this policy.

Citizen's dividend is a proposed policy based upon the

Georgist principle that the natural world is the common property of all people. It is proposed that all citizens receive regular payments (dividends) from revenue raised by leasing or taxing the monopoly of valuable land and other natural resources
.

History

A concept akin to a citizen's dividend was known in

Laurium.[1] The dispersal of this provoked great debate. The statesman Aristides proposed the profit from this should be distributed among the Athenian citizens.[2] However he was opposed by Themistocles, who proposed the money be spent building warships for the Athenian navy. In the end, Themistocles' policy was the one adopted.[2]

In the

social security system. Thomas Paine summarized his view by stating that "Men did not make the earth. It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds." Paine saw inheritance as being partly a common fund and wanted to supplement the citizen's dividend in a tax on inheritance transfers, but Georgist
supporters now focus on natural resources.

Implementations and proposals

This concept is a form of

seignorage, the electromagnetic spectrum, the industrial use of air (CO2 production), etc.[4]

Permanent Fund Dividend implementation in Alaska

The U.S. state of

Permanent Fund dividend, which holds investments initially seeded by the state's revenue from mineral resources, particularly petroleum. In 2005, every eligible Alaskan resident (including children) received a check for $845.76. Over the 24-year history of the fund, it has paid out a total of $24,775.45 to every resident.[5] Some believe this dividend as the reason why Alaska has one of the lowest rates of inequality and relatively low levels of poverty compared to other US states.[6][dubious – discuss] A 2018 paper found that the Alaska Permanent Fund "dividend had no effect on employment, and increased part-time work by 1.8 percentage points (17 percent)... our results suggest that a universal and permanent cash transfer does not significantly decrease aggregate employment."[7]

Carbon emissions reduction proposal

The concept is also promoted as a tool to reduce carbon emissions.[8] Peter Barnes created the concept of "Sky Trust" as an example of how this could be implemented. Barnes proposes setting up a public trust to manage the funds, separate from the private sector being taxed.[9] A calculation based on specific assets by Barnes estimates that American citizens could each get $5,000 per year by this model.[6]

Swiss experiment proposal

A Swiss campaign in 2013 advocated for a citizen's income which could net each citizen an amount equivalent to $34,000 dollars.[6] A citizens dividend based on resources according to Thomas Pogge is due to every citizen because everyone owns an inalienable stake in all limited natural resources.[10] His theory goes along with Barnes with the exception of ownership, Pogge contends that the people own the resources.[4][11] The Progress Report says that the dividend should be valued by the free market.[12]

Maryland proposal

John Moser, a congressional candidate in Maryland, ran chiefly on the proposal that a citizen's dividend based around a portion of all income would eliminate homelessness and hunger, and would act as a collective risk share as used in Nordic model nations.[13][14]

New Physiocratic League

The New Physiocratic League, a project advocating for an economic reform revolving around shifting taxation towards land, advocates for a form of citizen's dividend as part of its Three Pillars program of income support.[15]

Citizen's dividend proposal in India

senior citizens. According to his estimate, this can result in a monthly income of approximately Rs. 1000 for every Indian.[17]

Other proposals

Several philosophers and economists connect

left-libertarian ideas with support for UBI. Of these, the most closely related theory to Georgism calls for a citizen's dividend—that is, a UBI equal to the monetary rental value of natural resources and socially created wealth. Writers advocating citizen's dividends include Peter Barnes (author of With Liberty and Dividends for All), economist Nic Tideman and activist Jeff Smith.[18] Barnes proposes setting up a public "Sky Trust" to manage the funds creating from taxing pollution, greenhouse gases and other actions that deplete the value of shared natural resources.[19]

Other theorists use left-libertarian insights without strictly connecting the monetary value of resource value with the level of UBI.

social-democratic arguments for UBI without committing to resource- or rent-based financing of UBI.[23][24]

To reduce

K-12 education, with a requirement to at some point perform three years of public service (or, alternatively, profit sharing).[25]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Plutarch, Themistocles 4
  2. ^ a b Holland, pp. 219–222
  3. ^ "Agrarian Justice", Thomas Paine
  4. ^ a b Makwana, Rajesh (2015-04-13). "From Basic Income to Social Dividends: Sharing the Value of Common Resources". Medium. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  5. ^ "THE PERMANENT FUND DIVIDEND". Alaska Permanent Fund. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  6. ^ a b c Makwana, Rajesh. "From basic income to social dividends: sharing the value of common resources". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  7. doi:10.3386/w24312. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  8. ^ "Cap and Dividend". Institute for local self-reliance. 2010-01-29. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 11 Aug 2013.
  9. ISBN 9781626562141
    .
  10. S2CID 154946253. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  11. ISBN 9780745641430. Archived from the original
    on 2015-09-19.
  12. ^ "Citizens Dividend how big guaranteed income". The Progress Report. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  13. ^ "Baltimore Sun Voter Guide on John Moser". Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  14. ^ Moser, John. "Modernizing Tax and Income Policy". Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  15. ^ "The New Physiocratic League Platform". New Physiocratic League. 18 February 2018. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  16. ^ "Mineral Royalties for Citizen & Military Law Draft" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Third proposed change in Indian Administration". Archived from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  18. ^ "Wealth and Want: Citizen Dividends". www.wealthandwant.com. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  19. ISBN 978-1-62656-216-5
    .
  20. ISBN 978-0-19-827905-1
    .
  21. ISBN 978-0-241-39633-9
    .
  22. ISBN 978-1-78590-111-9
    .
  23. ISBN 978-1-4742-9417-1
    .
  24. ISBN 978-1-84980-237-6
    .
  25. ISBN 978-1250185983
    .

References

External links

Library resources about
Citizen's dividend
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