Self-funding Universal Basic Income
I congratulate Michael Lester and Bronwyn Kelly for their Universal Basic Income proposal and wish to suggest a politically compelling way for its introduction.
The idea is a counter-intuitive self-financing tax incentive. Shareholders who change the constitutions of their corporations obtain bigger, quicker and less risky profits. But, on condition, they endow a small fraction of their equity each year by a book entry to a “Stakeholder Equity” account. Corporations then create Stakeholder shares, which they only endow to citizens, who can vote for the politicians who can vote for the tax incentive.
Non-self-funding tax incentives are used by some countries to introduce employee ownership. But they may only represent a small fraction of voting citizens. A UBI, by definition, involves 100% of voters to make it politically compelling. It is financially compelling because it raises new taxes from the rich and saves welfare payments. In addition, it makes the nation richer by eliminating the export of dividends to foreign shareholders. But new investment can still be attracted. For details, refer to: Tax incentive for investor led stakeholder economy’, Academia Letters, 2021, Article 3877, 16 November.
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