A dividend from the global commons - harvesting a share for us all
Although pilot schemes for world basic income may be funded through international aid or charitable giving, we envisage that in the long term a whole-world basic income would be funded through new global mechanisms, which would aim to harvest a share of the of the wealth that our ancestors have built up over the centuries, and that the earth naturally yields now, which is known as 'the commons'. This could be gathered through collective shareholdings in global companies, international taxes, such as a carbon extraction licence fee or financial transaction tax, royalties on goods like intellectual property or the extraction of natural resources, or fees for the use of shared goods, such as charging airlines for using our shared airspace.
These are relatively new ideas, and here at World Basic Income we are under no illusions as to how difficult they may be to put it in place. Nevertheless, the G77 is already calling for a UN Tax Body to tackle elite tax abuse and the 'race to the bottom' in corporate taxation, and there is pressure from many sides for global financial transparency. Once these crucial aims are achieved, it makes sense to consider how else a global tax body could further global social justice and sustainability - global taxes and other charges could become an obvious next step. We at World Basic Income believe that it is right to gather up wealth at this global level, and that this could bring huge benefits if shared out as a world basic income. We will work to research the options, initiate discussions and push forward progress, to find sustainable ways to fund it.
These are relatively new ideas, and here at World Basic Income we are under no illusions as to how difficult they may be to put it in place. Nevertheless, the G77 is already calling for a UN Tax Body to tackle elite tax abuse and the 'race to the bottom' in corporate taxation, and there is pressure from many sides for global financial transparency. Once these crucial aims are achieved, it makes sense to consider how else a global tax body could further global social justice and sustainability - global taxes and other charges could become an obvious next step. We at World Basic Income believe that it is right to gather up wealth at this global level, and that this could bring huge benefits if shared out as a world basic income. We will work to research the options, initiate discussions and push forward progress, to find sustainable ways to fund it.
How much could we raise for a world basic income?
The tables below summarise some funding options for World Basic Income, all of which involve charging 'rents', fees or taxes on profitable use of the global commons (or what should be considered, at least partly, to be the global commons). The first table shows the scale of these resources and activities, and the rent or tax rate that we are proposing. The second table shows the amounts that this would raise, and how much of a $10 a month world basic income this represents. We have based our proposals and calculations on the best available data; in cases where data is not available (e.g. land values) we have made very conservative estimates.
The current proposal is for an initial world basic income of $10 per person month, which would cost $960 billion per year (assuming a world population of 8 billion people). However, these calculations show that far more money could be raised, thereby permitting a significantly higher world basic income of $50, $75 or more per person per month. The eventual amounts raised will depend which income streams are brought into play, and the rates and tax bases in place at the time of implementation. The tables below merely seek to illustrate what is possible.
The current proposal is for an initial world basic income of $10 per person month, which would cost $960 billion per year (assuming a world population of 8 billion people). However, these calculations show that far more money could be raised, thereby permitting a significantly higher world basic income of $50, $75 or more per person per month. The eventual amounts raised will depend which income streams are brought into play, and the rates and tax bases in place at the time of implementation. The tables below merely seek to illustrate what is possible.
World basic income is redistribution of a small share of global income
Immense amounts of wealth flow around the world every day. The world's Gross National Income - the total wealth we produce each year - is around $86 trillion. We need to re-direct only a tiny part of it - around 1.1% - to fund a world basic income of $10 per person per month.
In doing so we take nothing away - we simply divert a small part of this income to flow directly into people's pockets. Once people spend their basic income, this money is of course returned back into the global wealth stream to be earned, sold, and to flow round once again.
In doing so we take nothing away - we simply divert a small part of this income to flow directly into people's pockets. Once people spend their basic income, this money is of course returned back into the global wealth stream to be earned, sold, and to flow round once again.
A whole world of resources
The 'rents' and taxes in the tables above are based on world resources which can be considered part of the global commons. As 'commons' we mean these resources either are or should be considered as the common property of mankind, either because their value is created through our collective efforts, or because they exist naturally without human effort. In many cases, literal shared ownership of these would be impractical - it would not be useful for all land including private homes, for example, to be fully accessible to all. However, recognition of the common moral ownership of these resources means we should divert a share of the income produced by these collective and natural resources to their owners - the people of the world. I this way, the global commons can be used to fund a world basic income, so that everyone in the world benefits from this collective wealth.
Carbon - Our atmosphere and the right to pollute it. An interntional carbon fee and dividend could form the intial funding basis for world basic income. Our atmosphere is clearly a global commons, and it makes sense that people receive compensation for damage done to it through carbon pollution. There are many carbon charging schemes, including the Emissions Trading Scheme that currently exists, and carbon taxes as proposed by the IMF. Most existing schemes charge an extremely low effective price for carbon - only around $2 per tonne according to the IMF - so they neither prevent climate change nor raise much money. However, capping overall carbon extraction, and pricing it at a minimum of $70 per tonne as recommended by the IMF, would meaningfully address climate change while raising significant sums for a public dividend. The best schemes charge for carbon extraction (i.e. oil drilling) rather than emissions (burning coal in a factory), as this is much simpler to administer and would capture a greater proportion of emissions. This fee would be mostly passed on to end-consumers via the prices of carbon-heavy goods, but IMF estimates show relatively manageable price changes (5 - 7 % more for petrol if the carbon tax was $35 per tonne, price rise not modelled in the $70 scenario). The carbon dividend, or the world basic income it becomes part of, will help people to afford these price rises, and they will fall more heavily on well-off people and corporations as they use most of the world's fossil fuels. These price rises are also essential to motivate the changes that we need to make to prevent catastrophic climate change, like investing in more renewable energy, public transport, electric vehicles and better building insulation. To reach NetZero we would of course need to lower the carbon cap to almost zero, so at that stage very little would be raised for a carbon dividend. It therefore makes sense to see carbon cap and dividend (aka carbon fee and dividend) as a temporary measure that can act as a bridge to world basic income. It would address two major problems at once - climate change and economically unjust poverty and inequality - while giving us the time to bring other funding sources for world basic income online.
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A collective share in global corporations. Thinkers such as Yanis Varoufakis have proposed funding basic income by requiring that a percentage of the shares sold via Initial Public Offerings be held by a Commons Capital Depository. A proportion of the dividends paid out to shareholders by companies would then accumulate in a collective fund which would be distributed to everyone worldwide as a basic income. This idea recognises that corporations make money partly through the use of ideas, people, infrastructure and natural resources that have been publicly funded or are collectively owned, so the public deserve a share in the proceeds.
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Our money, and the real value within financial products. High finance only works if traders have 'confidence' in the products being exchanged. To create confidence, products have to originate in the real economy of useful things. Currencies and bonds get their value from the fact that populations go out to work and pay their taxes. Derivatives are based on farmers actually growing food next year, and on real earning people taking out mortgages on real homes. Without our hard work, the immense wealth within the finance sector would disappear, so it seems fair to ask that a portion of this wealth is shared among the people of the world that helped to create it.
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Our oceans and airspace, and the right to travel through them. Transnational shipping of goods, and aviation, are huge industries which rely on the use of these immense shared resources. We as the world's people could choose to charge for passage or freight through our airspace and oceans, and share this money out amongst us all.
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Our land. Most of us either have no access to land or we spend our lives renting or paying off the huge cost of a tiny parcel of it. In line with longstanding campaigns for Land Value Tax, owners of large areas of land could be required to contribute a proportion of the revenue they generate with it (in rents, agricultural produce or capital gains) to the world's people, in recognition that we all have a shared moral claim on the land.
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The riches beneath the land. Gold, diamonds, oil, iron and other minerals all occur naturally yet they are traded for vastly more than what it costs to extract them. Although it may be unjust to begin extracting global dividends from these resources now, when the world's best off countries got rich centuries ago from selling theirs freely, these are nevertheless resources that can be considered to be common property at least by the people who live in areas where they still exist. There may be socially just ways to accrue a fair dividend from their extraction.
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Energy from the wind, sun, rivers and waves. As energy prices rise, landowners who happen to possess windy hills, or who can stake a claim to sunny deserts or fast-flowing rivers, may make a fortune by selling us the output of our own weather. Although these are benign energy sources and their development should be encouraged, in time (especially as revenues from carbon taxes diminish) it may become right to gather a share of their revenues for humanity. |
Riches from space. Near-earth asteroids contain valuable minerals, and some companies are already lining up to mine them. As no one privately owns asteroids, it seems reasonable to consider them to be in shared ownership. Therefore some or all of the gains from asteroids should surely be shared among the people of earth, just as the people of a country (or their government) usually expect a share of the proceeds from mining beneath their lands. Other riches from space, including space itself and the right to keep satellites there, could be treated the same way.
Intellectual property, and the making of money from it. The fortunes made by Bill Gates and others programmers, writers and inventors were only possible because many people had built up knowledge before them, often for little or no pay. Our ancestors created this immensely valuable store of knowledge together, and we all deserve to share in the bounty created from it.
Intellectual property, and the making of money from it. The fortunes made by Bill Gates and others programmers, writers and inventors were only possible because many people had built up knowledge before them, often for little or no pay. Our ancestors created this immensely valuable store of knowledge together, and we all deserve to share in the bounty created from it.
Clearly there are many sources from which we could derive all or part of a world basic income. We can choose to tap into these stores and flows of wealth as much as the people of the world consider to be appropriate. Doing so feels radical. It would require an expansion in global co-operation (which is already extensive) to create tax- and rent-raising powers at the world level. A world fund would need to be created into which the proceeds could be accumulated, and from which the world basic income could be paid. These are big changes, but they are within our reach. The results could be spectacular.
