Policy Proposals for Future Money by James Robertson

Discussion

Proposals from Chapters 3 and 4 in the book Future Money by James Robertson:

"The reforms proposed in these two chapters are summarised below. That set of reforms will transform the national money system into one much better organised than at present to serve its purposes in the 21st century.

We should think of it as a shift from redistribution that aims to correct the outcomes of a badly organised and managed money system, to predistribution that organises a money system better designed to meet its purposes.

It will also provide a model for the functions of the international money system, designed to meet the needs of world society today and in the future – see Chapter 5.

Finally, it will provide an enabling, no longer a disabling, context for the development of local money systems and their revival in more self-reliant local economies – Chapter 6.

Reforms proposed in Chapters 3 and 4 - a summary

Reforms proposed in Chapters 3 and 4 – a summary

1. Provide the national money supply as a public service Stop the creation of money by commercial banks as profit-making debt and transfer responsibility to the central bank for creating money debtfree and giving it as public revenue to the elected government.

2. Develop other sources of revenue; shift taxes off ‘goods’ onto ‘bads’

(a) Reduce and eventually abolish taxes on value added, incomes and profits, which penalise useful work and enterprise.

(b) Replace those with taxes or charges on things and activities that subtract value from common resources. These will include taxes or charges on land-rent values and on the use or right to use other common (mainly environmental) resources and take into account the capacity of the environment to absorb pollution and waste.

3. Create a people-centred shift in public spending

Introduce a Citizen’s Income – a tax-free income paid to every man, woman and child as a right of citizenship. The additional costs will be met by reducing the costs of interest on government debt, of perverse subsidies, of contracting out the provision of public infrastructure and services to the commercial business and financial sector, and of public sector inefficiency and waste."