There’s a very simple answer to society’s problems – pay everyone an unconditional basic income, says Ally MacGregor
What is basic income?
It is a sum of money paid to every adult aged 18 years and over without condition – regardless of marital status, willingness or ability to work, or anything else. As long as you are a resident, you get it. That means no means testing and no having to jump through bureaucratic hoops, as in the current welfare and wages system. Basic income will be a guaranteed right for all.
Why unconditional?
In order to free working people from dependency on a fluctuating job market, the super-exploitation of low wages and zero-hour contracts, and the humiliation of a punitive benefits system. It will, in effect, give people a more equal share in the nation’s wealth and enable them to benefit from things they (and their forebears) have created and continue to create through their labour.
What are the benefits?
People will have greater control over how they live, over their own destiny. They will be able to spend the income as they see fit, thus giving them the ability to satisfy their own needs and engendering a level of security and stability never before known for ordinary people. It will go a long way to eradicating poverty in this country. It is not simply a replacement for the welfare system nor will it eradicate the need for a free NHS. But some benefits, Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), for example, would no longer be required, since basic income would be paid whether employed or not. Basic income should be implemented alongside other radical changes, such as the reduction of the working week to 21 hours, to lighten the workload for everyone by sharing it out.
Wouldn’t it just lead to inflation?
Government should ensure that companies, retailers, private landlords, and the like are not allowed to raise prices to claw back the disposable income gained from basic income. They should guard against corporations sucking up money like some gigantic vacuum and then landing it in tax havens around the world, such as the British Virgin Islands, where it lies dormant for years, earning interest for its supposed owners, whilst yielding us nothing. We need to ensure that money is distributed to those that earn it and that any surplus is managed on their behalf by people who are directly accountable to them. This would be a vital first step to the ‘democratisation’ of the wealth of the nation.
Is this an extreme left idea?
Actually, the basic income is backed across the political spectrum and some on the Right have lent their support. Indeed, Milton Friedman, one of Mrs Thatcher’s inspirations, proposed a basic income years ago. Some on the Right support basic income because they hope it will slash the costs of the state bureaucracy and enable the functioning of free markets. The Left hopes it will complement existing welfare and free ordinary people from oppressive power relations, both in the home, at work, and at the hands of the state bureaucracy.
Left or right, BI is an obvious answer to long-term economic and technological trends that increasingly leaves ordinary people without jobs. Let’s put working people first in our deliberations and considerations. We need to talk about this now…
Ally MacGregor is a trade unionist and member of Left Unity.
Leamington Spark 