Guaranteed Annual Income

Revenu annuel garanti

Updated May 11, 2008
Page révisée le 11 mai 2008

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Work is underway to form a national network of people in Canada interested in Guaranteed (or Basic or Citizen's) Income / Allocation Universelle, along the lines of other national groups affiliated with the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). This network will seek to involve researchers, policy analysts, political advocates, and interested citizens with a common interest in the promotion of more universal and unconditional approaches to economic security. It will promote careful investigation and informed debate on diverse models and practical options for Guaranteed Income in Canada.

A number of people from Canada will be in attendance at BIEN’s Congress in Dublin, Ireland on 20-21 June 2008. This gathering will provide an opportunity to discuss launching a BI/GI network in Canada, and seeking affiliation at the appropriate time with BIEN. If you are at the Congress and want to take part in this discussion, please listen for announcements that will be made during the proceedings.

If you would like further information about the BIEN Congress, you can visit:
http://www.basicincomeireland.com/

If you would like to learn more about BIEN, you can visit:
www.basicincome.org

Regardless of whether or not you will be attending the BIEN Congress, you can stay informed about
(and get involved in) work to develop a Canadian Network for Guaranteed Income by contacting
Dr. Jim Mulvale of the Dept. of Justice Studies, University of Regina [ jim.mulvale@uregina.ca ]

Guaranteed annual income:
why Milton Friedman and Bob Stanfield were right (PDF - 172K, 6 pages)
By Hugh Segal
April 2008
[Abstract] In this article, former IRPP president Hugh Segal considers the merits of a guaranteed annual income or a negative income tax, an idea whose time may never come, but which always generates a good debate. It?s a concept where thinkers on the left and right have found some common ground, from conservative economists such as Milton Friedman in the United States, to Red Tories such as Robert Stanfield in Canada. "If it is done right," Segal argues, "instituting a basic floor income could diminish federal-provincial and labour-management tensions" and could even, "over time, reduce the net burden of state spending while increasing aid to, and the privacy and dignity, of those who fall behind."

Source:
Policy options - April 2008 issue (free online magazine)
[ Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) ]

USBIG NEWSLETTER VOL. 9, NO. 47 - WINTER 2008
- newsletter of the US Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) Network
Table of Contents of issue # 49:
1. USBIG Congress takes place later this week (March 7-9, 2008)
2. Conservative U.S. presidential candidate endorses a small BIG
3. Editorial: A Basic Income Supporter’s view of the sales tax movement
4. BIG News from Around the World
5. Upcoming Events
6. Recent Events
7. Basic Income Studies releases its fourth issue
8. New Publications
9. New Discussion Papers
10. New Members
11. New Links
12. Links and Other Info

To subscribe to this list, please email: Karl@Widerquist.com
[ earlier issues of the newsletter - back to 2000 ]

Source:
US Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) Network
"... promotes the discussion of the basic income guarantee (BIG) in the United States. BIG is a policy that would unconditionally guarantee at least a subsistence-level income for everyone."

US BIG Links to BIG Websites (145+ links)
This page contains links to websites with information about BIG. The pages differ considerably in their point of view. Some promote a BIG, some promote it as part of a larger strategy; some promote variations on the idea; some oppose it altogether. The fact that these websites are listed here is not considered a recommendation of their program, simply a location to find information.

Newsflash #49 - January 2008
CONTENTS
1. 12th BIEN Congress June 2008
2. Basic Income Studies
3. Events
4. Obituary: Andrew Glyn
5. Glimpses of national debates
6. Publications
7. New Links
8. About BIEN

To subscribe to this list, please send a request to bien@basicincome.org
[ earlier issues of this newsletter - back to 2006]

Source:
BIEN - Basic Income Earth Network (Belgium)
The Basic Income Earth Network was founded in 1986 as the Basic Income European Network. It expanded its scope from Europe to the Earth in 2004. It serves as a link between individuals and groups committed to or interested in basic income, and fosters informed discussion on this topic throughout the world.

An income for all Canadians
A guaranteed income program would lift more than 1.5 million people out of poverty
February 17, 2008
Comment by Reginald Stackhouse
Some ideas are rejected in the public forum not because they have been tried and found wanting but because they have been found challenging and not tried. One of them is a proposal that can really make poverty history in this country – no, not by increasing any or all of our existing social programs. Just the opposite.They will be replaced by a basic income policy, a.k.a. guaranteed annual income or negative income tax. It will provide all Canadians with an annual income, regardless of what other income they enjoy, earned or unearned.
Source:
The Toronto Star

A Tory joins poverty debate
February 14, 2008
For decades, the notion of a guaranteed annual income has been raised in Canadian social policy debates. A basic floor income for all Canadian adults was first advanced in Canada 35 years ago by Senator David Croll, a progressive Liberal. It was touted again in the 1985 report of a royal commission headed by Donald Macdonald, another Liberal. More recently, the Green party has embraced the concept. It is refreshing, then, to see a Conservative, Senator Hugh Segal, urging the study of a guaranteed income as a replacement for the myriad social and anti-poverty programs in Canada.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Guarantee income for poor, Kingston senator urges; Segal filed motion to top up those below poverty line
Febrary 8, 2008
Canadian politicians have tried without success for close to 40 years to introduce a guaranteed annual income for poor people. Kingston Senator Hugh Segal is hoping he's the one who can finally make it happen. On Wednesday, Segal filed a motion in the Senate asking the Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology to study the feasibility of using the tax system to provide a guaranteed annual income for individuals living below the poverty line.
Source:
The Kingston Whig-Standard

Guaranteed income, guaranteed dignity - March 5, 2007
Myriam Canas-Mendes loves her job as an outreach worker at the Stop Community Food Centre where she organizes public forums, connects recent immigrants to government services and helps out in the centre's breakfast and lunch programs. The pay is between $10 and $12 an hour depending on the task. That's considered fair by advocates who are pushing Queen's Park to raise the provincial minimum wage to $10 from $8.The problem is the single mom of two doesn't get enough hours to make ends meet. And so the 34-year-old Canas-Mendes has to rely on welfare to supplement her income. Except that doesn't provide enough money to live on either.
Source:
War on Poverty - from The Toronto Star
- ongoing series of articles and editorials about the plight of Canada's needy and possible reforms to the social programs that assist them.

Signs of Life in Canada’s
Guaranteed Annual Income (GAI) Movement
December 14, 2006
Posted by Arun DuBois
It is the policy that dare not speak its name. For the better part of the last 20 years, the idea of a guaranteed annual income (GAI), a government funded unconditional annual income floor below which no family or individual can fall, has been met with ridicule, dismissal, silence and, more often than not, legislation that does the exact opposite of what GAI activists want.
Source:
Relentlessly Progressive Economics:
Commentary on Canadian economics and public policy
[A Blog of the Progressive Economics Forum]

Related Link, also from
Relentlessly Progressive Economics:

Pondering a Guaranteed Annual Income
September 7, 2006
Posted by Marc Lee
Senator Hugh Segal reviews the history and the need for a Guaranteed Annual Income.
Canada’s on-again, off-again relationship with a guaranteed annual income (GAI) has made the rounds for many years. The most renowned recommendation for the GAI came out of the 1985 report of the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, chaired by Donald Macdonald, known as the Macdonald Commission. The report stated unequivocally that a universal income security program is “the essential building block” for social security programs in the 21st century.

Whatever happened to Canada's guaranteed income project?
Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson
Undated (early-to-mid-1990s)

Women’s Economic Justice Project:
An Examination of How Women Would Benefit from a
Guaranteed Livable Income (British Columbia)
April 2006 Revised June 2006
"The report documents discussions that formed a sort of grassroots women's think tank to examine the benefits, particularly to women, of a Guaranteed Livable Income. The project intended to look beyond current, and almost universally dominant, proposed solutions to poverty -- economic growth, jobs, daycare and welfare."

Complete report:

HTML version - table of contents with links to the individual sections of the report
PDF version (465K, 72 pages)

Source:
Women's Economic Justice Project
("In July 2005 the Women's Livable Income Working Group (c/o SWAG) began an 18 month project funded by Status of Women Canada to examine how women would benefit from a Guaranteed Livable Income.")
[ Status of Women Action Group ]

Income Insecurity:The Basic Income Alternative
by John Tomlinson
School of Humanities & Human Services
Queensland University of Technology
Australia
2001
"If freedom, security and productivity are the desired out comes of a modern welfare state then this book argues that a Basic Income is the most efficient way to achieve it."

Livable Income For Everyone
"Livable Income For Everyone (LIFE) is an organization started [in British Columbia] in 2003 to promote the implementation of universal guaranteed livable income in every country in the world."
- incl. links to Introduction - Evidence - Articles - Questions - Buried Treasure - Links - LIFE - Email

Why Women Would Gain from a Guaranteed Livable Income
March 2003
by Cindy L'Hirondelle
Source:
Victoria Status of Women Action Group

Le revenu de citoyenneté : Revue des écrits et consultation des experts (French version only)
François Blais et Jean-Yves Duclos
Université de Laval
Septembre 2001
(Fichier PDF - 7,6Mo, 295 pages)
Sites connexes:
CRÉFA - Centre de recherche en économie et finance appliquées (Université de Laval)
Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture

A guaranteed annual income: From Mincome to the millennium (PDF file - 5 pages, 35K)
by Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson
Whatever happened to Mincome Manitoba?
In the January-February 2001 Issue of Policy Options policy magazine
Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP)
- Go to Policy Options -"Canada's premier public policy magazine"
- Go to the Institute for Research on Public Policy

Yes, Virginia, There is a Guaranteed Annual Income
December 2000
Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman
Caledon Institute
Abstract
Commentary(PDF file, 2 pages)

DEBATE: Should Canadians be guaranteed a Basic Income?
November 2000
Sally Lerner, C.M.A. Clark and W.R. Needham say "Yes"
CAW's Jim Stanford says "NO"--- or at least not this kind.
Source : Articles From The CCPA Monitor
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - BC Office

International Basic Income Links (Guaranteed Annual income = Universal Income= Support Income=Citizens' Income)

On Welfare and the Alternatives (U.S.)
Welfare reform was a good idea in theory but hasn't quite worked out the way NEWT (Gingrich) and Bill Clinton thought it would.
March 1, 2007
"(...)if you want to decrease the size of government while making people self-sufficient and in doing so leaving the family unit intact, there is a rather simple solution that has been batted around since the Nixon administration. The Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is a government ensured guarantee that no one's income will fall below the level necessary to meet their most basic needs for any reason. As Bertrand Russell put it in 1918, "A certain small income, sufficient for necessities, should be secured for all, whether they work or not, and that a larger income should be given to those who are willing to engage in some work which the community recognizes as useful. On this basis we may build further." Thus, with BIG no one is destitute but everyone has the positive incentive to work. BIG is an efficient, effective, and equitable solution to poverty that promotes individual freedom and leaves the beneficial aspects of a market economy in place. (...) I believe in dismantling the entire welfare system, Medicaid/care included and replacing it with the above BIG. This is the conservative solution without making judgments or convoluting it with man-managed bureaucracies as this would be the domain of the US Treasury department.
Source:
411mania.com ("pop-culture since '96")

What is the Basic Income Guarantee?
[For a discussion of BIG as a solution to poverty see "An Efficiency Argument for the Basic Income Guarantee"]
[For cost estimates of BIG See Garfinkel, Huang, and Naidich (2002) or Clark (2002)]
[For a History of USBIG 1999 to 2004, see The first five years of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network]
[For a discussion of the diversity of BIG proposals see, "The Many Faces of Universal Basic Income." (Reprinted by permission from the Political Quarterly 75 (3), 2004, pp. 266-274.0)]
Source:
U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network

The Basic Income European Network (BIEN)
Founded in 1986, the Basic Income European Network (BIEN) aims is to serve as a link between individuals and groups committed to, or interested in, basic income, i.e. an income unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement, and to foster informed discussion on this topic throughout Europe.

- incl. links to : Search | Contact BIEN | Latest NewsFlash | 2004 BIEN Congress | About Basic Income | About BIEN | BIEN Resources | BIEN Archive

BIEN's NewsFlash newsletter contains up-to-date information on recent events and publications related to BIEN or basic income more generally. The NewsFlash is mailed electronically every two months to over 800 subscribers throughout Europe and beyond, and simultaneously made available for consultation or download at BIEN Online.

Basic Income Links
"Try out some of BIEN's favourite links, and discover a wealth of information on basic income and related policies on the web."
- incl. links to over two dozen sites : groups officially recognized by BIEN - other European groups - outside Europe - other relevant web sites

The Right to a Basic Income: Egalitarian Democracy:
Basic Income European Network (BIEN) 10th Congress
19-20 September 2004, Barcelona
The Congress was held within the framework of the Universal Forum of Cultures, as part of the Dialogue on "Human Rights, Emerging Needs and New Commitments" organised by Catalonia's Institute of Human Rights (18-21 September 2004).
- incl. links to 50+ conference papers on the subject of Basic Income

Sample papers:

The False Promise of Workfare: Another Reason for Basic Income Guarantee (PDF file - 279K, 36 pages)
Joel F. Handler (UCLA Law School, USA)
- includes an interesting history of welfare and welfare reform in the U.S.!

Ample Room at the Top:
Financing a Planet-Wide Basic Income (PDF file - 149K, 14 pages)
Myron J. Frankman
McGill University, Montreal

The Administration of Universal Grants:
Reconsidering Implementation in Universal Welfare Reform (PDF file - 355K, 27 pages)
Jurgen de Wispelaere, University College Dublin

Papers from the 9th Congress - links to over 100 papers dealing with a wide range of issues around guaranteed annual income presented at the Plenary and Parallel Sessions at the 9th Bi-annual Congress

Sample papers (from Canadian presentations):

Enhancing Socio-Economic Security Within an Economic Model Based on "Fear and Insecurity” (PDF file - 141K, 28 pages - September 2002)
Manfred Bienefeld (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada)

A planet-wide citizen's income. Espousal and estimates (PDF file - 64K, 17 pages)
Myron Frankman (McGill University, Montreal, Canada)

Income Security as a Right: Does Everyone Have The Right to a Basic Income? (PDF file - 69K, 22 pages)
Allan Sheahen (U.S.)


Basic Income European Network 8th International Congress
Berlin, 6-7 October 2000
"Economic Citizenship Rights for the 21st century"
- See the complete collection of over 50 papers presented at the Congress

The big holes in the net : structural gaps in social protection and guaranteed minimum income systems in 13 European Union countries (PDF file - 112K, 22 pages)
April 2004
Source:
Higher Institute for Labour Studies (Catholic University of Leuven)

The negative income tax
The idea of a negative income tax: Past, present, and future (PDF file - 447K, 8 pages)
Summer 2004 (September)
by Robert A. Moffitt
Robert J. Lampman and the Negative Income Tax Experiment (an extract from an oral history)
Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

Citizen's Income (U.K.)
"Citizen's Income is an unconditional, non-withdrawable income payable to each individual as a right of citizenship. The Citizen's Income Trust plays a vital role in building democracy, promoting pluralism, improving justice, addressing poverty and correcting and complementing the roles of the state and the economic market place."

In the Shadow of Speenhamland: Social Policy and the Old Poor Law (PDF file - 257K, 41 pages)
2003
Source:
Fred Block (Professor, University of California, Berkeley)

A Basic Income for All
Philippe Van Parijs
"If you really care about freedom, give people an unconditional income."
Source:
Boston Review - "A Political and Literary Forum"
[This article was originally published in the October/ November 2000 issue of the Boston Review]

U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG)
USBIG aims to encourage discussion on the basic income guarantee in the United States and to serve as a link between supporters.

The First Congress of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network: Fundamental Insecurity or Basic Income Guarantee?
March 8-9, 2002, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
- incl.links to 35 papers presented at this Congress
Sample paper:
In the Shadow of Speenhamland: Social Policy and the Old Poor Law (PDF file - 263K, 41 pages)
March 2003

Universal Income Trust (New Zealand)
"Universal Income Trust is a non-profit, registered, educational charity. Its purpose is to inform people about the social, environmental, and economic benefits of universal income systems i.e. economic systems that fulfil the minimum basic requirements inherent in the International Bill of Human Rights."

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