The numerous basic income pilot programs around the world are demonstrating the many good effects of using a basic income to lift people out of poverty. But these pilot programs face a daunting task to convert their temporary programs into permanent ones.

That’s because the cost of basic income programs is high. Conventional wisdom says that the costs must be paid out of tax revenues, and no politician wants to be seen raising taxes. Economists view basic income programs as a means to redistribute wealth, from the wealthiest to the poorest, and progressive taxation is typically how that is accomplished.

However you slice it, redistribution means taking from some to give to others. Those who work and pay taxes will object when they see those who don’t work getting their money. That seems basically unfair.

But there is a different approach that doesn’t require redistribution. In a Solar Dividends program, the money to pay for basic incomes does not come from taxes, but from solar energy. Solar arrays dedicated to Solar Dividends sell the electricity they generate from the sun into the power grid, and distribute the money to pay for basic incomes. This money is generated from nature, not taken from others. So it is distribution, not redistribution.

In such a program, people are not having their taxes raised; they are simply paying their electricity bills as they always have. But instead of the profits going to investors, they pay for basic incomes for those in need.

So replacing redistribution with distribution means:

Not take money from some to give to others,
but make money from nature to give to all.

It is a model that is both sustainable and acceptable to everyone.