One way to pay for basic income could be a dividend from land that the government leases to businesses. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters The US government owns over $150 trillion of federal land and resources. Most of it is unused and sitting idle. If you divide $150 trillion by America's 325 million citizens, you get nearly a half-million dollars per person.

If the US could just figure out how to monetize that federal land and distribute its equity equally, Americans could forever overcome poverty, healthcare issues, and the impending "robocalypse" — where increasing automation replaces tens of millions of human jobs.

As a 2018 Libertarian candidate for governor in California (with my eye on the Libertarian Party's 2020 presidential nomination), I've been racking my brain to come up with a bipartisan plan to improve the American financial landscape and stop worsening inequality.

I knew the key rested in America's vast untapped wealth of federal land, which is valued at over six times our national debt. But in order to monetize this land, it would have to be sold or leased out to private businesses that can use it.

Rightfully so, most Americans do not want to sell the country's forests, lakes, fossil fuel reserves, and other assets off forever. The next best thing, then, is of course, leasing it out. Leasing out federal land could provide a permanent regular income to every American, without giving up ownership of the land. I call this idea a Federal Land Dividend, and it's the first plausible universal basic income plan that doesn't raise taxes or target the rich — which is why I believe Congress will be interested in it.

An energy installation on a property leased to Devon Energy Production Company by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is seen near Guthrie. Thomson Reuters

$1,700 a month, indefinitely

The Federal Land Dividend works like this: It issues out leases anywhere from 25 years to 99 years. Companies would offer bids for land and resources they wanted, and binding lease agreements would be created. I'm guessing most leases would be structured around a standard 5% annual interest rate, plus inflation when necessary.

If 85% of $150 trillion of federal land was leased out — which would allow all national parks and their 80 million acres to remain untouched (something I would insist on) — then every American, regardless of age, would receive $20,000 a year, or $1,700 a month indefinitely.

When the typical American household of four people combines that amount, it then becomes $80,000 annually per household. That's quite far above the current median US household income of $52,000, and it's plenty for families to live on in nearly every part of America. And naturally, personal incomes would add to what the Federal Land Dividend provided.

Just about anyone will accept free money. But the strongest opposition to the Federal Land Dividend comes from environmentalists. They go bonkers at the thought of America's pristine lands and waters being commercialized.

Park rangers meet in front of Yosemite Falls. David Calvert/Getty Images I believe we ought to try to respect those opinions, and the way to do this is two-fold: Leave national parks alone. Second: make all leases contain a clause that requires companies to leave the land and environment just as they found it when their lease is over.

Environmentalists will probably still find a reason not to be happy with the plan, but they must remember that the Federal Land Dividend's goal is to eliminate poverty and increase equality. Currently, 13 million American kids go to bed hungry at night and approximately 1.5 million people will be homeless in the US at some point in 2017. Our country's assets — the land and its resources that belongs to the people — should used to for the health and security of its citizens.

Besides, there is a huge national and global threat on the horizon America must prepare for: robots taking most human jobs. Over the next five years, it's likely machines will replace millions of human jobs in the US. Recently, McDonald's stock reached an all-time high as investors cheered automated ordering kiosks replacing cashiers. And the approximately 3.5 million truck drivers may soon be replaced by driverless vehicles.

The threat is real, and the Federal Land Dividend provides an indefinite income that American families can live and thrive on, whether they're employed or not.

A new American Dream

Another reason the Federal Land Dividend may be welcomed is because it solves a number of longstanding American dilemmas, like the possibility that Social Security will one day be insolvent. The Federal Land Dividend can replace Social Security outright. It could also replace welfare, food stamp programs, and the endless debate about how to provide affordable healthcare in this country.

This is the reason billionaire CEOs like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla's Elon Musk support the idea of basic income. Done properly, it's a bipartisan plan that benefits both rich and poor.

The American Dream used to be about working hard and achieving the good life. Our predecessors did so well that America is now the greatest, most prosperous nation on the planet. We have the resources to give every American the good life. Now we just must embark on a mission to monetize those resources and distribute them to each American.



Zoltan Istvan is a futurist, author of "The Transhumanist Wager," and a Libertarian candidate for governor in California.