A ‘Citizen Income’
Quakers soon to be asked to support a 'Citizen's Income'
Quakers from across Britain will soon be asked to consider supporting a ‘Citizen’s Income’. Friends in South East Scotland have resolved to raise the issue with Meeting for Sufferings, the national committee of British Quakers.
A Citizen’s Income scheme would mean that the government allocates a guaranteed sum of money to every citizen. Wages would continue to be paid on top of this, but many benefits would be unnecessary. Its supporters insist that their calculations show it to be both affordable and realistic.
South East Scotland Area Meeting last month minuted their concern for a Citizen’s Income. Their minute declares: ‘A Citizen’s Income could redistribute income from rich to poor and geographically, thereby enabling regeneration of poorer local economies and boosting growth’.
The minute followed a discussion with Annie Miller of the Citizen’s Income Trust. Annie is a Quaker who has worked for a Citizen’s Income since the 1970s. She said that three and a half decades of economic growth have benefited the richest forty per cent of the population, with many of the poorest becoming poorer.
The Trust maintains that a flat rate of income tax at around forty-two per cent could pay for the scheme. For some on middle incomes, the high tax rate would to some extent cancel out the extra income. Those at the top of the scale would end up with less money, while the poorest would gain.
Friends in South East Scotland accepted that ‘we also need to talk to those whom we would not expect to agree with such an initiative’. The possibilities they suggested include a training weekend at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham.
Quakers are not the only religious group to be considering the idea. The Conference of Religious of Ireland has supported a Citizen’s Income since 2002.
Scottish Friends suggested that the scheme would boost growth. Other supporters of a Citizen’s Income have argued that it would make the economy less dependent on growth. This is the position of the Green Party of England and Wales. They support both a Citizen’s Income and a zero-growth economy.
According to the Green Party, the Citizens’ Income will ‘eliminate the unemployment and poverty traps, as well as acting as a safety net to enable people to choose their own types and patterns of work’. They believe it will help to move from a welfare state to a welfare community, in which people engage in ‘personally satisfying and socially useful work’.
Comments
In the case of these households there seems no real reason to take 42% of their income away just to return it as a citizens income. A system by which individuals or households would make a payment or receive an income would surely be more efficient in terms of administration.
By jmcatling on 6th March 2012 - 13:26
The simplest system is to merge the Benefits system and the Taxation system. If your net personal income minus citizen income puts you in credit, you get payments. If if puts you in deficit, you pay taxes. But, the biggest obstacle is getting past the people who object: why should somebody get money for sitting on their arse all day???”. To which the answer is “if they want more income than will prevent them from starving or freezing, then they have the option - as everybody does - to go out their and earn additional income”. Too many people believe that people should do something to “deserve” the ability to not starve to death.”
By jgharston on 30th March 2012 - 1:38
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