Presented for learning, not as an endorsement of any party, candidate or bill. Quotations are verbatim and linked. Where we interpret, we say so.
Who is Steven Shafarman?
He is an author and a somatic educator who lives in Washington, D.C. He has been talking and writing about basic income since the mid-1980s, has been active with the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network since 2000, and is a life member of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), where he spoke in Geneva (2002), Dublin (2008) and Montreal (2014) (Amplify Publishing; BIEN).
His books include Awareness Heals (1997), about the Feldenkrais Method; We the People; Basic Income Imperative (BIEN, 2018); and Our Future (Mascot Books, 2020). In 2025 he spoke on an “AI and Inequality” panel at the Henry George School of Social Science.
The idea, in plain words
Give every adult citizen the same amount of money each month, with no means test and no conditions. In his 2017 TEDxMidAtlantic talk description:
“Set an amount, say $500 or $750 or $1,000, and have government provide that each month to every adult citizen. The same amount for everyone: homeless veterans, recent graduates, working parents, retired grandparents, and the rest of us.”
Source: TEDxMidAtlantic, 2017
He describes it as “guaranteed, universal and unconditional, added to and independently of what we earn” (TED).
“More than money”
His central claim is civic. The publisher’s description of Our Future puts it this way:
“Our Future shows us that basic income is more than money. With any amount, version, or variation, everyone will have monthly reminders that we – each of us, all of us – are equal citizens …”
Source: Mascot Books; the same text appears on the Amplify author page.
The same description frames politics as “We the People versus special interests and the status quo,” instead of left versus right.
Where the idea came from for him
He traces it to how young children learn. Writing for BIEN in 2016: “when everyone’s basic economic security is guaranteed, I believe our society can “outgrow” pollution, racism, war, and other problems” (BIEN Stories).
History, as he tells it, and the record
- Our Future credits Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. with related ideas (Mascot Books).
- On April 16, 1970 the U.S. House passed President Nixon’s Family Assistance Plan, 243 to 155 (American Presidency Project; IRP, University of Wisconsin). It was means-tested, not a basic income, and it did not become law.
- Alaska paid its first equal Permanent Fund Dividend in June 1982 (State of Alaska).
Where it meets the gift economy
This section is our reading, not his words. On this site a gift economy means sharing “without an agreed price or required direct repayment.” Read that way, his plan shares several things with a gift:
| Shared idea | In his basic income | In a gift economy |
|---|---|---|
| No test to receive | The same amount for everyone, rich or poor. | Ask without proving you deserve it. |
| Nothing owed back | Paid “independently of what we earn.” | No invoice, no required repayment. |
| Dignity | No stigma in accepting what everyone gets. | Needing help does not require a performance of thanks. |
| Time for care | Security that frees time for family and community (his 2002 BIEN paper). | Time and skills are often the gift. |
Honest differences
- Policy, not a personal choice. Basic income is paid through government. A gift is freely chosen by a person.
- Adult citizens, not everyone. His plan covers adult citizens. Gift communities usually do not check citizenship.
- Money, not relationship. A payment arrives the same way for everyone. Gifts often build a relationship between two people.
- Reciprocity in an earlier version. His earlier “Citizen Policies” plan was “combined with having everyone volunteer eight hours a month” (Institute for Public Accuracy). That is community reciprocity, which this site names separately from a no-return gift.
Basic income and iGift
Our framing, not his: a basic income would be a floor. A gift network is one place to share what the floor makes possible. On iGift, people share things like “a ride to the airport at 5 a.m.” or “an hour of Spanish practice, both ways,” and the site says: “You are not required to pay, donate, or offer something back” (iGift.com). Money can cover rent. It cannot find the neighbor who will teach you to drive. The two ideas can sit side by side.