Implode-o-Meter News - Basic income isn't just a nice idea. It's a birthright. (SO SAID THOMAS PAINE!)

Thomas Paine was among the first to argue that a basic income should be introduced as a kind of compensation for dispossession. In his brilliant 1797 pamphlet Agrarian Justice, he pointed out that "the earth, in its natural, uncultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, the common property of the human race". It was unfair that a few should enclose it for their own benefit, leaving the vast majority without their rightful inheritance. As far as Paine was concerned, this violated the most basic principles of justice.
Knowing that land reform would be politically impossible (for it would "derange any present possessors"), Paine proposed that those with property should pay a "ground rent" -- a small tax on the yields of their land -- into a fund that would then be distributed to everyone as unconditional basic income. For Paine, this would be a right: "justice, not charity". It was a powerful idea, and it gained traction in the 19th century when American philosopher Henry George proposed a "land value tax" that would fund an annual dividend for every citizen.

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Basic income isn't just a nice idea. It's a birthright. (SO SAID THOMAS PAINE!)