CI - Index

A CITIZEN'S INCOME is an unconditional, non-withdrawable income payable to each individual as a right of citizenship.

The Citizen's Income Trust promotes debate on the feasibility of a citizen's income by running seminars and conferences, publishing a newsletter and other publications, maintaining a library of resources, and responding to requests for information.

There is now an A3 size leaflet designed for students of economics, social policy, etc.

On one side there is a history of income maintenance in the UK, and on the other an introduction to Citizen's Income

To download as a pdf, click here.

Click here to download as a Word document,

If you would like to be sent copies in the post, then please email us and let us know how many.

The 2007 introductory booklet is still available.

Click here to download it as a pdf document. This new booklet is a slightly amended version of the evidence submitted by the Citizen's Income Trust to the Work and Pensions Select Committee (see opposite). A printed version is available.

The Citizen's Income Trust relies entirely on individual's donations to finance its work. If you would like to donate then please click here and search for 'Citizen's Income Trust'. Thanks

Citizen's Income Online
CIO is designed to provide a dynamic interface for the exchange of ideas, comments and suggestions.

The website gives on-line access to much of the material held and published by the Citizen's Income Trust and also provides information on current findings, forthcoming events, reviews etc. Please do make contact either by registering or commenting on any aspect of the site using the email links.

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Contacts

Email the Citizen's Income Trust

Citizen's Income Trust
37 Becquerel Court
West Parkside
London SE10 0QQ

Telephone: +44 (0)20 8305 1222

info@citizensincome.org

www.citizensincome.org

This site © the Citizen's Income Trust, 2009

Disclaimer

The views on this site are not necessarily those of the Citizen's Income Trust

The Citizen's Income Trust accepts no responsibility for the content of websites to which there are links on this site

Site last updated on:

22 August, 2010

For useful links, click here

HM Treasury is running a website to enable people to submit and vote for ideas which they would like considered during the Government's impending spending review. A Citizen's Income has been proposed and has been allocated a slot on the site. Readers can view the submission and vote for it here. Voting closes at the end of August.

Last year the Centre for Social Justice published a report, Dynamic Benefits, which identified high marginal benefits withdrawal rates as earnings increase as a serious disincentive to people on benefits who are considering taking employment. The report recommended a combined benefits withdrawal rate of 55%. To read the report, click here

The Department for Work and Pensions has now published a consultation paper, 21st Century Welfare. To read it, click here. We would be pleased to receive readers' reactions to the paper.

The Citizen's Income Newsletter, Issue 2, 2010 is now available.

Click here to read this issue

This edition contains editorials on the 'Big Society' and on universal provision; a research note on a possible Citizen's Income scheme's effects on labour market incentives; news and conference reports; reviews; and a Viewpoint by Bill Jordan.

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Aspects of the debate on a Citizen's Income:

A Citizen’s Income is an unconditional, nonwithdrawable income for every individual as a right of citizenship. For twenty-five years the Citizen’s Income Trust has been promoting debate and research on what is now seen in many quarters as a desirable and feasible reform of tax and benefits systems. And there is now increasing international interest driven by a significant pilot project in Namibia.

One of the reasons for current interest in a Citizen’s Income and in benefits reform generally in UK is that at the moment there is little financial incentive to take a part-time job, even if that would fit with someone’s caring responsibilities. With a Citizen’s Income the situation changes considerably, to the advantage of the household’s income, carers’ ability to care for dependents, and the economy.

A smaller Citizen’s Income which we have researched and which we submitted as evidence to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee’s inquiry into Benefits Simplification in 2007 – evidence which they printed in their report - redistributes from rich to poor, increasing the net income of households in the lowest earnings decile by 25% and decreasing the net income of households in the highest earnings decile by only 4% - and all this at the same time as reducing the poverty and employment traps which households find themselves in today. (We reprinted our evidence as a booklet, available in print form, and also downloadable: see the notice to the left)

Research subsequent to our submission of evidence to the Committee shows that a larger Citizen’s Income would be as feasible as the smaller one discussed in our evidence.

Both of these schemes are revenue neutral, that is, the income tax rate won’t need to rise. [When discussing income tax rates it is important to note whether the scheme in question subsumes national insurance contributions into tax rates] We used to think that not costing anything was an essential characteristic of a viable reform of tax and benefits, but the way in which the Government has found the money to throw at the banks suggests that we might not need to be quite so careful with the Chancellor’s money. What’s particularly interesting politically is the support for major reform, and for a Citizen’s Income, in both houses of parliament.

Our most recent project shows that by replacing Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits with Citizen's Incomes of £60 pw for each adult and £31.59 pw for each child (in addition to Child Benefit) and by changing allowances and tapers it is possible to

increase employment incentives and make nobody worse off in a range of household types for household gross earnings up to £750 per week for families with children and up to £450 per week for single adults without children
considerably reduce administrative complexity by abolishing Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits
do it by it making as few other changes as possible to the current system
employ the Upper Earnings Limit for National Insurance Contributions as a cost regulator: that is, the Limit can be located so that the scheme saves money, costs money, or is revenue neutral

The thirteenth BIEN congress

One of the documents discussed at the BIEN congress in June was a pamphlet by Eduardo Suplicy. This has now been translated into English, and you can read it here.

For notices of other conferences during 2010 click here.

The Citizen's Income Newsletter, Issue 1, 2010 is still available.

Click here to read this issue

This edition contains a progress report, a review article on Wilkinson and Pickett's The Spirit Level, book reivews, news items, and a conference announcement

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