Basic Income and diversity in Canada and the USA

The 1970s saw considerable interest in benefit system reform in the US and Canada. Here, ‘Basic Income Guarantee’ can mean Minimum Income Guarantee, Negative Income Tax, or Basic Income, and ‘Basic Income’ does not always mean a Basic Income. This chapter describes the differences between Minimum Income Guarantee, Negative Income Tax, and Basic Income as they apply to the US and Canadian debates; recounts proposals for Minimum Income Guarantee, Negative Income Tax, and Basic Income in the US; explains President Nixon’s Family Assistance Plan and George McGovern’s Minimum Income Grant, and their failure to be implemented; and describes a number of Minimum Income Guarantee experiments conducted in both the US and Canada both during the 1970s and more recently, and also the ways in which they have been evaluated and their results communicated and miscommunicated. Finally, the Alaska Permanent Fund and its annual dividend are described.