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No, Basic Income hasn't been voted on yet in Switzerland. You're probably thinking of the 1:12 pay scale referendum. And yes, the numbers do work. You just nee
by nkoren 13y ago
No, Basic Income hasn't been voted on yet in Switzerland. You're probably thinking of the 1:12 pay scale referendum.
And yes, the numbers do work. You just need relatively high tax rates (>= 50%) to support the Basic Income -- but no higher than already exist in many European countries.
- gaius 13y agoWell, only kinda. For example here in the UK we could scrap our welfare system and give every man, woman and child in the country £3000/year no questions asked no strings attached, for what the welfare system costs now. A family of 4 could live on £12000/year not luxuriously but with the basics, somewhere like Wales. A single person could not live on £3000/year in London.
- pekk 13y agoWhy should anyone be subsidized to live in London? Let them live someplace cheap, or work to cover their expenses for living in an expensive place.
- gaius 13y agoI agree, but that isn't the "spirit" of basic income.
- ronaldx 13y agoI think it is in the spirit of basic income. Basic income allows people to better choose their own destiny. I can move from London to Wales, or move from Wales to London, knowing in both cases that I'll at least have a basic income to cover moving costs and minimum expenses while I set myself up. That nets me a different quality of life in each place, exactly as it should. Choosing to live in London means you share the resources with a much higher population density and take the (many) positive and negative consequences of that. You still need to work, but you have more freedom to negotiate; at least, you have gained a decent Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) - if things go horribly wrong you can still move to Wales :)
- dllthomas 13y agoI'm with Ronald here - I think that's very much in the spirit of basic income. Everyone has some resources available to them, and it's up to them how they spend it, but it's up to the market how much various things cost (including things like living in London).
- jodrellblank 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_Unit... Greater London, bigger than the next ~7 largest urban areas in the UK put together. A lot of infrastructure would need rebuilding if 10% of the UK population were going to quickly up and move to the remote hills and North Wales towns.
- dllthomas 13y agoWhich would mean jobs... but I don't think all of the unemployed need to move for it to be a worthwhile change. If people (with savings or familiar support) drop out of the workforce to pursue other interests (possibly still productive, like start-ups), that leaves more jobs free for those needing them to make ends meet on top of the BI.
- walshemj 13y agoAnd just how far would £3000 go if you had anything at all serious remember that US guy who had to pay $50k for a one night stay appendix removal.
- gaius 13y agoI am talking about welfare not healthcare - different budgets.
- walshemj 13y agoUm no its not NI pays for both benefits JSA (social security for non uk people) etc and the NHS.
- ronaldx 13y agoIf you think National Insurance pays for those directly (it doesn't), you're the reason we've been fooled into paying a second income tax.
- gaius 13y agoUmm, no NI is not hypothecated. Welfare and healthcare are run by different govt departments.
- walshemj 13y agoThey still are paid from the same source though.
- gaius 13y agoA large pot of general taxation, yes. That is how it works in the UK. Arguably NI should be a wholly separate system that only funds the NHS and state pensions, and be run as a real insurance system, but it's not and converting it is next to impossible. But my point stands: I'm not including the NHS budget in mine, for this.