A basic income as our fair share of the earth

A basic income is a promising solution for preventing people from falling into poverty. The current system of benefits and allowances creates significant bureaucratic hurdles and imposes numerous restrictions on the very people it aims to support. A basic income does not have these drawbacks and allows everyone to develop optimally. However, the idea also raises at least two questions.

Perhaps, the most common is: who will pay for it? After all, if you give people money, it has to come from somewhere. Would the introduction of a basic income make working people the slaves of lazy people? And we may also fear the complexity and bureaucracy of tax regulation, making it harder for normal people to set up their own little businesses.

The second question is whether a basic income will allow us to flourish. Or will a basic income just enable us to live in a small apartment and buy food? This may especially happen if our basic income is too low and we lack access to natural resources.

Both questions make sense. Both have reassuring answers if we define basic income as our fair share of the earth.

People need a place to live, grow food, and go on holiday. Yet, a small group of people owns a large part of the earth and can demand a high price from others for their place on earth. But the earth was not made by these people. We could think of the earth as a gift to all humanity. There is no reasonable argument as to why one person should have more rights to the earth than another. If we can all have our fair share of the earth, a heavy burden will be lifted. Houses will become affordable, and we could go on holidays in our own country for little money. The idea that people have equal rights on the earth is called geoism. Geoists are in favour of a fair distribution of the earth and also support freedom and free trade. Their vision is, therefore, very different from the well-known political movements that propose to share, and, therefore, tax everything.

A synonym for geoism is Georgism. Georgism is named after Henry George (1839-1897), but the idea is much older. Thomas Paine, for example, discussed it in Agrarian Justice (1797). He proposed a solution rather similar to a basic income.

So, how can we share the earth fairly? In theory, we could divide the earth into equal parts and then give everyone their share. Of course, this raises all sorts of practical objections. However, we can achieve the same result with a land value tax and a basic income. Those who own land pay a land value tax. The revenue is then distributed in the form of a basic income. This basic income allows everyone to dispose of their share of the earth. The system is simple and flexible. People can spend their basic income on land, but they don’t have to. If we introduced this system, the tax system would become very simple. Our houses no longer need to be appraised for a land value tax and we no longer have to worry about wage taxes or VAT. A printout from the land register is sufficient.

Now, let’s revisit the two questions we began with. First, can a basic income enslave working people? If we equate basic income with our share of the earth, this danger does not exist. Working people can choose to be content with their share of the earth. In that case, they are not contributing to someone else’s basic income. They only have to pay a fee to people who are willing to give up some of their space if they want to use a lot of land—for example, to have a big company. In other words, a basic income does not mean that we can have someone else work for us; it just means that we can have our fair share of a gift that is available to the whole of humanity. Advocates of a basic income may still worry that the amounts involved are too low. But this is not very likely. The value of the earth is enormous. If you do not believe this, try buying a plot of land.

The second question ties in nicely. Is a basic income just a way of avoiding protests while a few big companies own the whole earth and robots do the work for them? Will we all end up in a small flat and get some money to pay our rent and buy some food? Will we still be able to shape our own lives? These concerns are not entirely unfounded. Again, describing basic income as our fair share of the earth offers us a solution. If we can have our share of the earth, this will give us the space to have a house with a garden. We no longer need to work excessively hard to pay our rent. Together with like-minded people, we can have food produced the way we like so that we are not dependent on big corporations. We can have our own place where we can enjoy our holidays the way we want and no longer have to worry about all the nice affordable places being turned into holiday villas for the rich. We can have our own space where we can start our businesses and be less dependent on employers. Having space allows us to make something of our lives.

Geoism, the belief in equal rights to the earth, holds the key to solving many of the problems of our time. Some geoists advocate using the proceeds of a land value tax to fund the government. Geoists who have less faith in the efficiency or goodwill of governments prefer a basic income so that people can decide for themselves what they need.

Those who do not own land are completely dependent on landlords and employers. A basic income could resolve this. Ultimately, a basic income should help us retain our freedom and independence.