Guaranteed Income: Securing the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living
A guaranteed income can dramatically reduce poverty and inequality, advance gender and racial justice, and support workers. By providing direct cash assistance without onerous conditions or eligibility requirements, it can help create a more equitable future.
Oxfam America recognizes the human right to an adequate standard of living. To fulfill this right and address inequality, policymakers should support local guaranteed income initiatives and work toward a federal income guarantee. By providing unconditional cash transfers, a guaranteed income would represent a sharp break from the punitive, highly conditional, and inadequate safety net programs that allow poverty and extreme inequality to persist. It can break down the structural barriers that perpetuate racial and gender disparities and help create a more just economy.