Citizen’s Dividend

A Check for Every American

America has the most powerful economy in the world. Every year our businesses generate enormous wealth.

But that wealth increasingly flows to the top while most Americans never see a direct share of the prosperity they help create.

Joshua Hamilton believes the solution is simple:

When America prospers, the American people should prosper too.

The Citizen’s Dividend creates a national investment fund owned by the American people that sends a yearly payment to every adult citizen.

As the American economy grows, every citizen receives a share of that success.

Good Ideas Come From Everywhere

Good ideas don’t belong to one political party.

They come from red states and blue states alike.

One of the best examples comes from Alaska, a conservative state that created the Alaska Permanent Fund.

For more than forty years, Alaska has invested part of its natural resource revenue and paid yearly checks to its residents. Every Alaskan receives a payment simply for being a citizen of the state.

Hamilton’s plan takes this successful American idea and expands it to the entire country.

Why This Matters Now

New technologies like artificial intelligence and automation are about to unleash enormous economic growth.

But without new policies, most of those gains will be captured by a small group of corporations and investors.

The wealthy will continue getting wealthier while the average American is cut out of the prosperity created by the modern economy.

The Citizen’s Dividend ensures that everyone shares in the growth of the future economy.

When technology makes America richer, every citizen receives a piece of that progress.

How It Works

1% GET on Business Revenue
A small share of business revenue is collected across the economy.

↓

National Investment Fund
The revenue is invested in a permanent fund owned by the American people.

↓

Yearly Payments to Citizens
As the fund grows, every adult citizen receives a yearly payment.

---

The Citizen’s Dividend is funded by a 1% General Excise Tax (GET) on business revenue.

Because this tax applies across the entire economy, it captures the gains from economic growth, automation, and artificial intelligence that might otherwise concentrate only at the top.

Instead of being spent on government programs, the revenue goes into a permanent national investment fund owned by the American people.

The fund is invested and grows over time.

Each year, part of the investment returns are distributed equally to every adult citizen.

In simple terms:

The American economy pays dividends to the American people.

What Americans Can Expect

As the fund grows, every adult citizen receives a yearly payment.

Estimated payment:

$1,000 – $2,000 per adult each year

For a household with two adults, that could mean:

$2,000 – $4,000 annually

As the fund continues to grow, these payments can increase over time.

Building a National Wealth Fund

The United States has the largest economy in the world. Even a small share of that economic activity can create a massive public investment fund.

A 1% General Excise Tax on business revenue could generate hundreds of billions of dollars each year for the Citizen’s Dividend fund.

As this money is invested and compounded over time, the fund could grow into one of the largest public investment funds in the world.

Over the long term, the fund could reach several trillion dollars in assets, producing strong annual returns that support meaningful payments to American citizens.

The larger the fund grows, the larger the yearly payments become.

In this way, the Citizen’s Dividend turns America’s economic growth into a growing national asset owned by the people.

An American Idea

The idea that citizens should share in national prosperity is not new.

Programs like Social Security ensure that Americans share in the security created by decades of work and economic growth.

The Alaska Permanent Fund shows that it is possible for citizens to receive direct payments from the wealth created by their state.

The Citizen’s Dividend builds on these successful American ideas.

It creates a national investment fund owned by the American people and returns a portion of the country’s economic growth directly to its citizens.

This is not a radical concept.

It is a modern extension of the American tradition of shared prosperity.

Part of a Larger Plan to Raise Incomes

The Citizen’s Dividend works alongside Hamilton’s Working-Class Tax Cut (Negative Income Tax).

Together they strengthen incomes for working families.

• The Working-Class Tax Cut ensures that work always pays and eliminates poverty.

• The Citizen’s Dividend ensures everyone shares in economic growth.

One provides a floor under incomes.

The other gives every citizen a stake in the nation’s prosperity.

Why This Is Different

Most government programs try to help families through complicated tax credits or temporary benefits.

The Citizen’s Dividend takes a different approach.

Instead of creating another program, it gives every citizen a direct stake in the American economy.

When businesses grow, when technology increases productivity, and when the economy becomes more powerful, every American shares in that success.

It’s simple.

The economy grows.
The national fund grows.
Americans receive a yearly payment.

A Simple Principle

If America prospers, Americans should prosper too.

The Citizen’s Dividend turns economic growth into something every American can see and feel:

a yearly payment from the success of the American economy.

The Bottom Line

America’s economy is one of the most powerful engines of wealth in human history.

The question is simple:

Should that wealth belong only to the few — or should it benefit the American people?

The Citizen’s Dividend ensures that every American has a stake in the prosperity of the nation.

Because the success of the American economy should belong to the American people.