The universal right to capital income: We need a big money tree

The Universal Right to Capital Income by Yanis Varoufakis, a former finance minister of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens.

There is no question that citizens need a big money tree, where the money fruit is shared equally by all citizens, in the form of a citizen dividend. Some prefer to call this a universal basic income.

The main question is where the money is coming from to grow the big money tree.

"The idea that you work hard and pay your income taxes, while I live off your enforced kindness, doing nothing by choice, is untenable. If a universal basic income is to be legitimate, it cannot be financed by taxing Jill to pay Jack. That is why it should be funded not from taxation, but from returns on capital."

Yanis wants a portion of all IPO shares to be deposited centrally and the future dividends from such shares will be paid as citizen dividends.

There are many good comments there:

• Funding via money printing is good.
• A corporate income tax by any other name.
• If you really think that taking a percentage of each IPO will adequate to fund this fund of yours, you are off your rocker. the volume of IPOs today is not nearly large enough.
• Hit the shared natural resources that are the birthright of all of us, not the benefit of individual labor or enterprise. 
• If Vaaroufakis wants a more equal capital income distribution he should look at property and natural resources.

It is not good to tax someone else's employment income to finance a citizen dividend. This is "taxing Jill to pay Jack."

It is not good to tax someone else's capital income to finance a citizen dividend. This is also "taxing Jill to pay Jack."

It is absolutely right for a country to return the citizens' common property to citizens in the form of a citizen dividend. This means every citizen is getting his own money back. This is NOT "taxing Jill to pay Jack." It is returning each citizen's ownership money, individually and unconditionally.

Almost every politician thinks that just because he wins an election, he has the mandate to spend the citizens' common property in any way he wants. This is totally absurd. Imagine you appoint an agent to manage your property, and the agent thinks he can do whatever he wants with your property.