Krunchie Killeen (Proinnsias Ó Cillín): Universal Dividend

16 January 2021

Joe Biden's payment to every household

Now that Joe Biden has announced that a payment will be made to every household in the USA, (to stimulate the economy) the concept of a universal dividend becomes realistic.

The Universal Dividend

The Universal Dividend would be a modest monthly payment to every person, so that all humanity gets to share in the wealth of the world. This would not be compensation for unemployment. Recipients would be entitled to the payment just by being human, and whether employed or not. There would be no need for an elaborate bureaucracy, as there is when administering unemployment benefits; every person would be entitled simply by registering for the payment and having some biological identifier recorded (fingerprint, photo, iris image, DNA, according to whatever technology is current). The purpose of the biological identifier is to prevent duplicate applications and to ensure that every applicant is human, not a robot.

Seminole Indians already have it

One nation already has a universal dividend for its members: The Seminole Indians of Florida. Every member of that tribe is considered to be a share-holder in the nation's assets, and is, as a result, a millionaire.

International application

What I propose is a Universal Dividend supervised by the United Nations. It would be funded by a very small universal tax on the individual wealth of millionaires. This would have a huge impact on eliminating poverty, but would also stimulate the world economy, and tend to put an end to the necessity for economic migration. Since it would stimulate the world economy (recipients of small emoluments spend 100% of their income and, thus, re-circulate the money), it would actually increase world wealth.

It would cost relatively little and have huge benefit.

The Universal Dividend Song

Let's make a new path for all the nations

Based on the worldwide brotherhood of man

Paying a universal dividend

To every person in every land

Removing poverty and destitution

Building a world based on trust and peace

Let us renew the United Nations

To care for every race and creed

Let us stand for human values

Let us stand for the Rights of Man

No more armies, no more slaughters

Nor more leaders' bloodstained hands

Universal Wealth Tax

National wealth taxes have proved unsatisfactory, since wealth can easily be dispatched across national boundaries. I propose an international wealth tax, collectable by the United Nations, to replace the existing funding of the United Nations (which is by national contributions).

Every person in the world, whether a citizen of a member of the United Nations or not, would be subject to this tax. The first $10M would be excluded from the tax, and the rest would be taxed at 1%. If, then, you own $20,000,000, your annual wealth-tax bill would be $100,000. At this rate, if you are earning nothing (which is unlikely), it would still take 200 years before the tax would have eaten up your fortune. But, in the meantime, by contributing to world political and economic stability, and directly stimulating world wealth, it would have actually added to your individual wealth.

The universal wealth tax would take in more than 560 Billion US Dollars per year, nearly 140 times the amount collected by the present contributions, and would enable the expansion of world humanitarian programs.

See figures for world wealth at:
Chart: All of the World's Wealth in One Visualization (visualcapitalist.com)

See UN Budget at
General Assembly approves $3 billion UN budget for 2020 | | UN News

An investigation agency would be set up to collect the tax, which would be a tax on individuals, not companies. (Company wealth is held in shares, which form part of the wealth of individuals). In respect of any country which does not cooperate with the United Nations in the collection of the tax, it would be taken from the wealth of these individuals held or traded in other countries.

Wealth Tax to replace National Contributions

I suggest that the United Nations be in future funded by this Wealth Tax on individuals instead of the current National Contributions; that every person owning more than $10M (Net Assets) be subject to this tax, at 1% of net worth, excluding the first $10M.

Alternative Funding:

Alternative ways of funding the Universal Dividend have been suggested:

Corporations to pay a portion of their profits into a joint fund from which the Universal Dividend be paid;
The Dividend be paid by printing money, which is a method of public funding that has become common since the Depression of 2008/ 9;
The Dividend be raised by a small tax on all electronic transfers of funds;
The Dividend be funded by a Value Added Tax (in USA).

Some Figures (US $)

World Wealth (per Credit Suisse): $360 trillion

World Population: c. 8 B

Adult population: 5 B

World wealth per capita: $45,000

Wealth Tax at 1% on Millionaires (excluding first 10 M of wealth): $560 B

Budget of UN: 4B

Available for Universal Dividend: $556 B

U D per adult: $556B/ 5B ⭈ $120 per adult = $10 per month

This might seem a trivial amount, but 40% of the world's population have an annual income of less than $500, and for them it would be a very significant amount.

Because it is such a small amount, only the poorest would be interested in claiming it, and, so, the actual cost would be only a fraction of the estimated cost. The benefits would soon outweigh the expenditure.