Editing Citizen's dividend (section)

== History ==
A concept akin to a citizen's dividend was known in [[Classical Athens]]. In 483&nbsp;BC, a massive new seam of silver was found in the Athenian silver mines at [[Laurium]].<ref name = PT4>Plutarch, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=chapter%3D%23220;layout=;loc=Them.%203.1 Themistocles 4]</ref> The dispersal of this provoked great debate. The statesman [[Aristides]] proposed the profit from this should be distributed among the Athenian citizens.<ref name = h219>Holland, pp. 219&ndash;222</ref> However he was opposed by [[Themistocles]], who proposed the money be spent building warships for the Athenian navy. In the end, Themistocles' policy was the one adopted.<ref name = h219 />

In the [[United Kingdom]] and [[United States]], the idea can be traced back to [[Thomas Paine]]'s essay, ''[[Agrarian Justice]]'',<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100213005643/http://www.thomaspaine.org/Archives/agjst.html "Agrarian Justice"], Thomas Paine</ref> which is also considered one of the earliest proposals for a [[social security]] system. Thomas Paine summarized his view by stating that "Men did not make the earth. It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds."  Paine saw inheritance as being partly a common fund and wanted to supplement the citizen's dividend in a tax on inheritance transfers, but [[Georgism|Georgist]] supporters now focus on natural resources.