After the referendum, it will become clear whether the Swiss want to receive several thousand without working
"It's good everywhere in the world, but here [in Switzerland] it's good in a different way," Vladimir Lenin once said, and he was right. Today, Switzerland is the richest country in the world in terms of per capita income, and also a leader in areas such as quality of life, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, and many others. Now this Alpine country is ready to take a new height by providing every citizen with a unconditional income – 2,500 francs (2,250 euros) per month – regardless of their earnings or lack thereof. On the eve, the Swiss federal government announced its agreement to put the corresponding law to a referendum.
The authors of the initiative are a group of public figures, including publicist Daniel Straub and former parliamentary speaker Oswald Sigg. According to their idea, a universal unconditional income would help break the link between employment and welfare: people, having a guaranteed income, would be able to find work they like, rather than doing a job they dislike for the sake of money. At the same time, numerous subsidies to the needy would be abolished and replaced with a fixed payment, which would save on bureaucratic costs.
A nationwide vote on this issue will take place on June 5. If the initiative is approved, every adult citizen of the country without exception will receive the right to an unconditional wage, but minors will not be left out – they will be entitled to a monthly payment of 625 francs. However, both of these amounts are conditional: on the website of the initiative group called "Federal Popular Initiative. Basic Income" it is stated that the size of the unconditional income should be "at the level of human dignity."
"We propose to set a basic income at 2.5 thousand Swiss francs (2,250 euros) per month. What exactly this amount will be – that is, how much money you need to be able to live in our society with dignity – will be decided by a democratic vote. Every child should also receive a guaranteed income, but a smaller amount, for example a quarter, that is, 625 francs (about 560 euros) per month," the project authors write.
Surveys conducted by the Swiss research company Demoscope show that the majority of Swiss will continue to work even if they have additional income from the state. Only 2% of respondents out of 1,076 surveyed said they would quit if they were guaranteed monthly payments of 2,500 francs, while 8% of citizens would consider such a possibility depending on circumstances. At the same time, 56% of respondents believe that the initiative "will never see the light," and a third of respondents are convinced that other citizens will stop working if the law is passed.
"It's the well-off part of the population who are against it; they are against any social initiatives. They are afraid that taxes will increase or something like that. After all, it's not done for free. In September 2014, the Swiss parliament already discussed this idea – a national basic income, but then the idea did not receive universal approval. It was decided to postpone the discussion to a later date," explained Maria Zvereva, a resident of Switzerland, to Gazeta.Ru.
This initiative also failed miserably in parliament: after several hours of debate, 146 deputies voted against it, and only 14 supported it. This vote was merely a "recommendation" from politicians: it has no legal force, and the fate of the unconditional income question will be decided in a referendum this summer. Commenting on the results of the parliamentary vote, politicians did not skimp on epithets: Liberal Party press secretary Daniel Stolz called the initiative "a live grenade that threatens to tear the entire state system apart," and Swiss People's Party representative Sebastian Frener even dubbed the project "the most dangerous and harmful idea ever presented in parliament."
A significant reason for such statements is economic. If the law is approved, Switzerland will spend 208 billion francs annually on payments. Of these, 153 billion will come from tax revenues, and the remainder from social insurance funds.
However, supporters of unconditional income see no threats in this bill. "Basic income will help people be more rational, more forward-looking in planning long-term prospects, and more willing to take entrepreneurial risks," writes economist Guy Standing, a professor at the University of London, in his blog. As the scientist notes, millions of Americans are forced to work in less skilled positions to make ends meet – if they had a guaranteed monthly income, such a situation could be avoided. "The simple truth is that people under basic state support will work harder and more productively, not the other way around," the professor asserts.
Philosophers and economists have repeatedly proposed models of unconditional income since the 18th century. At that time, publicist and philosopher Thomas Paine described the idea of paying an income to all persons over 21 years of age. During the crisis and unemployment of the 1930s, the concept of a share of national wealth for every citizen received broad support among the masses in Great Britain, but was never implemented.
In the 21st century, pilot programs to introduce unconditional basic income have been conducted in a number of countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, and Brazil, but none of them has been applied universally. Incidentally, after the experiment in Namibia, where residents of two settlements received payments for two years, a decrease in poverty, an increase in economic activity and school attendance rates were noted. In addition, crime rates fell in the settlements.
Finland is also preparing a universal basic income program: after its introduction, every citizen of the country will receive 800 euros per month from the state. The Finnish Social Insurance Institution proposed replacing various social benefits with a single guaranteed amount – a 'national basic income'. Curiously, the vast majority of Finns (70%), unlike the Swiss, supported the idea of unconditional basic income.