In June 2016, Switzerland will vote in a referendum on the topic of introducing a basic income.
If passed, all Swiss citizens, working or unemployed, would receive about $2,500 a month
as a guaranteed stipend from the government.
Switzerland would become the first country in the world to implement such an idea.
So, should governments pay their citizens a basic income?
Well, there are a large number of variations on the idea of a basic income.
Some forms already exist as Social Security for the elderly or impoverished.
Others see this in the form of government benefits and assistance, also called “welfare”.
But “basic income” is an unconditional amount of money guaranteed by the government,
to every individual whether rich or poor.
Proponents of basic income, like the Basic Income Earth Network, say that such security
would give people freedom to pursue higher interests, without having to worry as much
about pure survival.
This is tied to a concept proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”.
That’s where a person will value their physical needs over their safety needs, safety over
relationships, relationships over self-esteem, and so on.
Eliminating the barrier of working for strictly physical and safety reasons is believed to
lead to a more utopian society.
This also addresses the idea of “wage slavery”, where a person only works for their most basic
and immediate survival, making it impossible to stop working, or escape a bad job.
However, those who oppose basic income say that such a plan would encourage people not
to work, similar to many other arguments against government assistance.
An experimental form of basic income was introduced in one Canadian city in 1974, and ran for
five years.
An analysis revealed that only two groups of laborers saw significant drop offs: teenagers
and new mothers.
And since teenagers were no longer pressured to work, a larger number graduated.
The basic income also led to fewer hospital visits, due to a lack of work-related injuries,
and fewer mental health, domestic abuse, and car accident victims.
However, some economists argue that it would lead to a loss of low-paid workers.
If everyone was able to survive, undesirable jobs like in manufacturing and service would
go away.
This could lead to a rise in the cost of most goods without a source of cheap labor to produce
them.
Perhaps ironically, this would prevent those only receiving a basic income from affording
those same goods.
Moreover, one economic journalist estimated that basic income in the UK could cost as
much as $450 billion dollars a year, compared to the $250 billion dollars which their welfare
system currently costs.
However, advocates say that if implemented correctly, basic income could be a cheaper
solution than allocating welfare according to how poor or able a citizen is.
But Switzerland is not like other countries.
It is one of the richest in the world, with an extremely low tax rate.
Even a slight increase in taxes could be tolerable to many citizens, and provide for a much less
“immediate needs” focused society.
But it will take until June to see whether most Swiss residents agree with that analysis.
In the US Presidential election, candidate Bernie Sanders has been asked about implementing
basic income.
But instead, Senator Sanders has advocated for raising the minimum wage.
Should we raise the minimum wage?
Check out this video to find out Thanks for watching Test Tube News, don’t forget to
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