Adequate Guaranteed Annual Income

WHEREAS the Board of Evangelism and Social Service in its brief to the Senate Committee on Poverty endorsed the concept of a guaranteed annual income; and

WHEREAS aid to the specifically needy is administered through an appallingly inhumane and messy network of welfare systems; and

WHEREAS the system of welfare “handouts” is degrading and demoralizing; and

WHEREAS we recognize that in our competitive society we will have winners and losers, and those in poverty are the losers; and

WHEREAS the Economic Council of Canada indicates that 20% of all Canadians live in some degree of poverty; and

WHEREAS the Royal Commission on Taxation noted that the present tax system is inequitable in many important respects—the poor bear a larger percentage of taxes than the rich; and

WHEREAS the message of Jesus Christ calls us to create more just systems of dealing with those who have special needs:

BE IT RESOLVED that this General Council:

1. Strongly urge the Canadian Government, in consultation with the Provinces, to implement an Adequate Guaranteed Annual Income (Negative Income Tax).
2. As the Division of Mission in Canada (Department of Church in Society) to prepare materials, in relation to the redistribution of income, which focus on the question of a Guaranteed Annual Income.
3. Urge congregations and the courts of the Church to study the whole area of a Guaranteed Annual Income and the role of the Church in the quest for a more equitable and just system for those in need.

1972 ROP, p. 70