Twitter CEO Leads Effort To Help 7 Million People With Universal Basic Income

Tech billionaire Jack Dorsey is yet again making attempts towards establishing a universal basic income. The renowned cofounder of Twitter is reportedly spending millions in a new experiment that will ensure a universal basic income for an expected 7 million Americans.

A report by Business Insider sheds lights on the effort. As a part of an initiative called Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a group of mayors plan to introduce guaranteed income pilot programs in their respective cities. In addition, the group will also be lobbying federal lawyers to bring a similar proposal on the national front.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (Representative Image: Reuters)

The plan, however, does not specify as to who will be eligible for payments and how much money will be imparted to them each month. The plan will be brought to action at a yet unspecified date in the future.

The whole idea of the guaranteed income is to help the citizens ensure a permanent income, that will further eliminate poverty and help them in the ongoing economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The program is also considered to be the best way to eliminate the disparity between the richest and the poorest Americans.

According to reports, Jack Dorsey has now announced that he will be pumping $3 million from his nonprofit into the program. The funding will ultimately be used to empower Americans across 14 different cities, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Newark, New Jersey, and Jackson, Mississippi.

Not the first time

Jack Dorsey is known for making such contributions to society through his non-profits. The Twitter CEO gained headlines earlier this year for donating a massive amount of $1 billion towards coronavirus related relief efforts.

The 43-year-old announced the donation on Twitter, pledging $1 billion worth of his shares of Square to fund the relief efforts. Dorsey highlighted that the donation marks almost 28 percent of his life earnings.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (Representative Image: Reuters)

At the time, Dorsey had mentioned that post the coronavirus pandemic, the money left from the donation would be used to support girls¡¯ health and education as well as to achieve universal basic income.

The donations are not in any way the last ones to come from the American tech mogul. Dorsey had earlier announced that he plans to give away all of his money within his lifetime. ¡°I want to make sure that I¡¯m doing whatever I can in my lifetime to help that through my companies¡¯ works, through my own personal giving,¡± Dorsey told Andrew Yang on an episode of the ¡°Yang Speaks¡± podcast.