Mark Zuckerburg and Martin Luther King Liked It. But Will Guaranteed Income Play in Stockton, California?

An Idea That Dates to the Founding Fathers Could Incentivize Workers and Support Families

In 1797 Thomas Paine, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, proposed that a “citizen dividend” be paid to each American and funded by a tax on land. Paine’s proposal—now dubbed Universal Basic Income (UBI) or guaranteed minimum income—is, some 220 years later, coming to California.

Specifically, it is coming to Stockton, a city that declared bankruptcy just five short years ago. Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, armed with a $1 million grant funded in part by the tech industry luminaries, is about to engage 100 or so …