CHAPTER 1 - Introduction and Overview

This book is our attempt to present what we learned in a way that will support public debate on a basic income and social policy reform in 1 Throughout the rest of the book (with the exception of chapters with other authors), “we” refers to our main group of authors: the three members of the BC Basic Income Panel (David Green, J. [...] Rhys Kesselman and Lindsay Tedds) plus Dan Perrin, who was the main adviser to the panel and, effectively, a co-author of the report, and Gillian Petit, who was a key researcher for the panel responsible for some of the main empirical findings underlying the report. [...] Our objective is to assess the broad and specific claims in favour of a basic income (BI) and, in doing so, shed light on whether a basic income is the best policy response to issues of poverty, unemployment and income insecurity, and whether it is the best way to build a just and inclusive society. [...] The proposals also all assume that assessment for eligibility and the delivery of benefits would be done through the tax system in the form of a refundable tax credit — which would entail a major reorganization of the tax-and-transfer system. [...] To return to our analogy of the problematic house, we believe that we should get to work on a major renovation of the house that is before us but do so in a step-by-step fashion that engages the residents of the house.