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Citizen’s Income – often called a Basic Income – is an unconditional, nonwithdrawable income paid automatically to every individual as a right of citizenship. It operates on a similar principle to the National Health Service – free at point of use for every legal resident.
The idea of an unconditional payment for every citizen has been around at least since Thomas Paine in the eighteenth century. In the modern day Malcolm Torry and the Citizen’s Income Trust have promoted debate and understanding of its feasibility as a national social policy.
Citizen’s Income is an act of grace. In this book Torry demonstrates the association between Citizen’s Income and Christianity with the ultimate aim of demonstrating Citizen’s Income as a Christian social policy, while calling for greater Church involvement in a wide-ranging debate on the subject.
Each chapter begins with a biblical text, outlines an aspect of the Christian faith, and then asks about the relationship between the aspect in question and the characteristics and effects of a Citizen’s Income.
Malcolm Torry is the Director of the Citizen’s Income Trust, and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics. He has long researched and written many articles on the reform of the benefits system, and particularly the desirability and feasibility of increased coverage of unconditional and nonwithdrawable benefits; the characteristics and management of religious and faith-based organisations.
