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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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FROM POVERTY TO POWERStandard bearers for social protection, such as Brazil and SouthAfrica, are now showing increasing interest in moving from targetedinterventions such as pensions or child support grants <strong>to</strong> establishinga national ‘basic income guarantee’ for all citizens, an idea that haslong been debated as a means of addressing poverty in developedcountries but has never been implemented (see Box 4.1).BOX 4.1THE BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE: THE NEXT BIG IDEA?Too many of our people live in gruelling, demeaning,dehumanising poverty. We are sitting on a powder keg...We should discuss as a nation whether a basic income grant isnot really a viable way forward. We should not be browbeatenby pontificating decrees from on high. We cannot, glibly, on fulls<strong>to</strong>machs, speak about handouts <strong>to</strong> those who often go <strong>to</strong> bedhungry. It is cynical in the extreme <strong>to</strong> speak about handoutswhen people can become very rich at the stroke of a pen.ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, NELSON MANDELA LECTURE,JOHANNESBURG, NOVEMBER 2004As different social protection programmes have multiplied,interest has grown in a much simpler idea. Why not guaranteeall members of society a basic income? Typically, advocatesargue for this <strong>to</strong> be linked <strong>to</strong> national poverty lines, for exampleset at 20 per cent of GDP per capita, and made universal, so thatall citizens receive it. An income tax would fund the scheme, sothat richer people contribute more, potentially helping <strong>to</strong> reduceinequality.In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2004 becamethe first president <strong>to</strong> sign a law setting out a universal incomeguarantee. 23 The Brazilian Parliament subsequently approved aCitizen’s Basic Income, <strong>to</strong> be implemented gradually, startingwith the poorest families. The Bolsa Familia programme is thefirst step <strong>to</strong>wards the universal benefit, although it is not yetclear when and how the full programme will be implemented.In South Africa, the Basic Income Grant Coalition is pushing for auniversal grant of between $15 and $20 a month, which wouldcost about 3 per cent of GDP and would be delivered via smart214

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