What is a basic income?
A basic income is a payment from the state to every individual resident, without any means test or work requirement. It would be sufficient to live a frugal but decent lifestyle without supplementary income from paid work. For people who are not employed, the basic income payment would replace most social welfare payments. For people who are employed, the basic income payment would replace most tax credits. The payment would also extend to those who currently receive no income from the state.
Why basic income?
A caring society...
A basic income will guarantee everyone basic financial security. In a caring society, no one should be deprived of their basic needs, no matter what their circumstances of birth or accidents of life. Everyone should be able to live with dignity – without shame, without having to ask permission, without doubt. Unlike other social welfare schemes, a universal basic income will guarantee everyone a basic level of income as a right. It will reflect our shared moral responsibility for meeting basic needs and our capacity to care for each other.
The smart economy...
A basic income will play a central role in a modern, flexible economy. For unemployed people, basic income will guarantee the incentive to take up employment, because their income from working will always be greater than their income while unemployed. People on part-time and short-term contracts will no longer have to worry about having no income during periods of unemployment. For self-employed people and start-up entrepreneurs, basic income will provide the income security necessary to support innovation and establishing new markets. For employers, it will reduce costs and bureaucracy and support flexible working arrangements. It will eliminate the poverty trap, thereby ensuring that no one will be better off unemployed. Basic income will give financial security to people working on family farms. It will support full-time and part-time study, boosting people’s skills and increasing productivity. It will provide support for full-time carers, whose work underpins every economy. Basic income will provide support for artists, volunteers, activists and social innovators whose work is not sufficiently valued by the labour market. It will eliminate the administrative and human costs of the present social welfare system.
Quality of life...
A basic income will improve everyone’s quality of life. Basic income will give everyone more freedom to choose how much of their time, at different stages in their lives, to devote to paid work and to other activities. Some people may want to live frugally and to consume less; others may want to put more energy into paid work and to have a higher material standard of living. Basic income will give us all more control over the balance between paid work and the other obligations, interests and concerns that make life worth living. It will give everyone the opportunity for taking time out of employment – for studying, caring for others, coping with the unexpected or just taking time for oneself. It will give each of us more freedom to choose the work, paid or unpaid, that we find most fulfilling or useful, and to avoid work that damages the environment or that we consider morally or socially unacceptable.
Further Learning:
Why basic income?
A caring society...
A basic income will guarantee everyone basic financial security. In a caring society, no one should be deprived of their basic needs, no matter what their circumstances of birth or accidents of life. Everyone should be able to live with dignity – without shame, without having to ask permission, without doubt. Unlike other social welfare schemes, a universal basic income will guarantee everyone a basic level of income as a right. It will reflect our shared moral responsibility for meeting basic needs and our capacity to care for each other.
The smart economy...
A basic income will play a central role in a modern, flexible economy. For unemployed people, basic income will guarantee the incentive to take up employment, because their income from working will always be greater than their income while unemployed. People on part-time and short-term contracts will no longer have to worry about having no income during periods of unemployment. For self-employed people and start-up entrepreneurs, basic income will provide the income security necessary to support innovation and establishing new markets. For employers, it will reduce costs and bureaucracy and support flexible working arrangements. It will eliminate the poverty trap, thereby ensuring that no one will be better off unemployed. Basic income will give financial security to people working on family farms. It will support full-time and part-time study, boosting people’s skills and increasing productivity. It will provide support for full-time carers, whose work underpins every economy. Basic income will provide support for artists, volunteers, activists and social innovators whose work is not sufficiently valued by the labour market. It will eliminate the administrative and human costs of the present social welfare system.
Quality of life...
A basic income will improve everyone’s quality of life. Basic income will give everyone more freedom to choose how much of their time, at different stages in their lives, to devote to paid work and to other activities. Some people may want to live frugally and to consume less; others may want to put more energy into paid work and to have a higher material standard of living. Basic income will give us all more control over the balance between paid work and the other obligations, interests and concerns that make life worth living. It will give everyone the opportunity for taking time out of employment – for studying, caring for others, coping with the unexpected or just taking time for oneself. It will give each of us more freedom to choose the work, paid or unpaid, that we find most fulfilling or useful, and to avoid work that damages the environment or that we consider morally or socially unacceptable.
Further Learning: