Is a basic income necessary?
YES
We are facing numerous problems and challenges: the coronavirus crisis, social security problems, loss of jobs through automation, obsolescence, financing of old-age provision (AHV), global warming.
The initiative committee is convinced that a basic income is necessary to provide decisive support for solving these problems.
Is the basic income financially feasible?
YES
A basic income for all those permanently residing in Switzerland is financially feasible if one thinks of it as a kind of basic insurance, as a basic amount below which no income can fall. However, this doesn’t mean more money for everyone.
The majority of the costs of basic income are already covered by existing tax revenues and social insurances. In order to cover the remaining costs (estimated to be about 25-40 billion per year), those sectors that have not been paying adequate amounts of taxes until now will be made responsible: the financial sector and tech companies, whose underground economy has remained undetected by the tax system thus far. CHF 40-60 billion can be expected here.
Parliament decides how much the basic income should be and how it should be paid out.
You can find more details about the financing and payment of basic income in the “Financing and Payment of the UBI” document.
Would unconditional basic income lead to collective laziness?
NO
By work we usually only understand gainful employment – ie only those who have a paid job. However, this is a fallacy.
Over 50% of the work in our country is done for free, for example in the form of family work and volunteer work. Nobody has ever asked why this work is being done even though it is not paid for. The incentives to do this work are evidently derived from the activity itself. Basic income only covers basic needs. Those who want to be able to afford more, will want to earn enough money to get it.
The world of work cannot be in good shape if people reflexively assume that with a basic income, no one would want to work. Otherwise, why would they believe that gainful employment would be avoided by everyone as soon as the first opportunity to dodge it presented itself? Incidentally, those who assume this always claim that they would of course themselves continue to work.
The greatest difficulty in understanding the basic income is the fact that income and work are decoupled from one another. The compulsions and fears associated with gainful employment and other dependencies are largely diffused.
The reputation of the working world must be very precarious indeed if people reflexively assume that a basic income would mean a loss of the desire to work. Why else would they believe that gainful employment would immediately and universally be avoided as soon as the first opportunity presents itself? Incidentally, those who suggest this always claim that they themselves would certainly continue to work.
The greatest difficulty in understanding the concept of a basic income is the fact that income and work are decoupled from each other. The constraints and fears associated with gainful employment and other dependencies would be largely defused.
How does the basic income work?
LIKE INSURANCE
Basic income insures against poverty, dependency, and fear and thus breaks the vicious circle of acceleration, disrespect, and (existential) fear.
Let’s take the Corona crisis as an example: What would have happened if there had already been a basic income in place in 2020? Nobody would have had to fear for their existence.
Those who currently have no income at all (housewives, house husbands, those who are no longer entitled to social security benefits, the unemployed, people on the fringes of society, children, young people, apprentices, students, and people engaged in the cultural sector) would be the main beneficiaries of such a scheme. Altogether, this makes up about 25% of the population. However, low and middle-income earners (about 50% of the population) will also be better off financially than they are today.
For more information, see the question “Who is entitled to an unconditional basic income?”
Who is entitled to an unconditional basic income?
EVERYONE
Anyone who is permanently residing in Switzerland is entitled to a basic income. The basic income does not change anything in terms of immigration policy.
As a general rule:
- Everyone, from the cradle to the grave, is entitled to a basic income.
- Everyone over the voting age is entitled to the full basic income.
- Children under the voting age are entitled to a reduced basic income. Basic income can replace child allowances, provided it is higher.
- Multi-person households are entitled to several basic incomes, one per person.
Since basic income is not about ” having more money in the bank”, but rather about securing one’s livelihood, it should only be paid out monthly to those who need it to live, see “How should unconditional basic income be paid out?”
What standards should be observed when paying out the basic income?
FAIR AND SENSIBLE
Parliament decides how basic income is paid out and how high it should be.
The initiative committee proposes a model in which:
- additional gainful employment is still worthwhile.
- low and middle earners are better off financially than they are today.
- high and very high incomes are taxed more heavily than today, through adjusted tax progression.
- those who need the basic income to support themselves can receive it on a monthly basis. Those who do not need it directly because they have enough income can deduct the basic income from their tax return and thus pay less tax.
You can find more details about the financing and payment of basic income in the “Financing and Payment of the UBI” document.