The Citizen's Dividend
Your own money back. No American is taxed on the necessities of life.
Nobody pays a dime of tax on the basics — the sales tax on necessities is rebated to you up front.
A national sales tax should never tax the necessities of life. So before you spend anything, the same flat rebate lands in every household's account, sized to cover the tax on food, shelter, and energy. No applications, no income forms, no qualifying — just your own money, returned. You only ever pay tax on what you choose to spend beyond the basics.
Consumption taxes are regressive by default
The poor spend nearly 100% of income; the wealthy spend a fraction. An unmitigated 20% sales tax would fall hardest on those least able to bear it — a moral and political nonstarter.
Rebate the tax on the necessities of life
The Dividend is a monthly rebate, paid in advance, sized to return the Sales Tax on the necessities of life. Because everyone gets the same flat amount, you keep your dignity and your privacy — there is no income form to file and no bureaucrat deciding who qualifies. You are taxed only on what you choose to spend beyond the basics.
Want to dig deeper?
The key numbers, at a glance
A monthly rebate paid in advance to every household, sized to return the Standard Sales Tax on the necessities of life — food, shelter, energy. The same flat amount for everyone, no means-testing and no new bureaucracy: the tax on survival is simply refunded.
Cadence
Monthly
Paid in advance of consumption
Coverage
Every resident
Universal, no means-testing bureaucracy
Sizing
Poverty-line offset
Necessities are effectively tax-free
Annual Outlay
$1.0T
Funded within the $5.8T revenue envelope
What exactly is broken today?
- Bottom-quintile households spend everything they earn.
- Necessities — food, shelter, energy — can't be deferred.
- Regressivity has killed every prior national sales-tax proposal.
How the fix works, point by point
- The same flat monthly rebate to every household — no means-testing, no paperwork.
- Sized to cover the tax on the necessities of life: food, shelter, energy.
- You control your own tax bill: spend modestly and pay almost nothing; the biggest spenders pay the most.
Why this is fair to everyone
Critics of a sales tax worry it hits working families hardest. Rebating the tax on necessities up front answers that completely: a family that spends carefully effectively pays nothing, while the tax rises only as spending climbs into luxuries. No one is punished for earning, saving, or getting ahead — you are taxed strictly on what you choose to consume.
What Would Your Raise Be?
See the Compensation Preservation Protocol (CPP) work for your own paycheck
The US average employer contribution is ≈ $15,000/year for family coverage — money you earn but never see in your paycheck.
Today
$50,000
+ $15,000 hidden premium
Your New Cash Wage
$65,000
an immediate $15,000 raise
Year 0 — Total Comp Freeze: the OTV certifies your Total Compensation Load at $65,000.
Year 1 — Mandatory Conversion: private premiums are abolished; the Fair Labor Standards Act makes the certified baseline your new minimum cash salary. Your employer’s costs don’t change a penny: $0 net.
The Wage Clawback Clause: an employer who pockets your $15,000 instead faces the Unjust Enrichment Tax — 100% of retained savings plus a 20% punitive surcharge, a $33,000 penalty. It is mathematically more expensive to steal the savings than to pay you.
More from the Shareholder Trust
- The Autopilot Thresholds
These rules only kick in above $29 million — and they can never creep down to you.
- The International Access Model
Foreign mega-companies pay for access to American customers — no more hiding in tax havens.
- The Legacy Savings Credit
Money you already paid taxes on will never be taxed again. Period.