A way to unleash people’s potential and creativity
In 1795 Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet entitled “Agrarian Justice” wherein he argued that every citizen should be given a basic annual income on the sole basis that he or she is a citizen. The justification for this “gift” was that before humans ever populated the earth, land didn’t belong to anyone and it was only much later that individuals acquired land for themselves. With this, the landless were prevented from growing their own food and, in compensation, landowners should be obliged to pay a tax which would then be distributed to all.