The idea of basic
income has a long history. During the last decades it has transformed from a theoretical
approach, being followed by an academic debate, to the practical
implementation. In Switzerland a referendum
recently took place where citizens voted about the issue concerning the government
providing every citizen a guaranteed citizen salary. The proposal was later
rejected by a large marginal, namely around 74% voted against. At the same time
the referendum showed that more than 100 000 citizens in Switzerland
The ongoing debate
and the supporters of the basic income policy can be divided into three main
categories: the economic-liberal, the welfare supporters and the economic-growth
critics. In its original the idea of the basic income, such as argued by
academic Phillipe van Parijs, should
be provided to each individual and citizen within the society. In practice it means
that a basic income should, by the state government, be given for example both a
businessmen who earns several millions euros per year as well as to a low-income
job seeker. One of the most prominent specifics of the basic income idea is
that it has a broader support within the ideological sphere since political
thinkers from left to right, from freedom to authoritarian side, have been
supporting the idea.
The
economic-liberal side of the debate has different political ambition, based on
two main arguments. The first one is to reduce the overall size and expenditure
of the welfare state by cutting down the size of bureaucracy and it costs. The
second is to make the welfare state gentler and less paternalistic towards the
individual. For example it should reduce the infringement of individual’s
personal integrity. The debate participants argue for giving individual more
personal freedom to choose how to spend the basic income. The argument is that
individual knows better how the basic income can be used for one’s own personal
success, welfare and future perspectives. Therefore from the
economic-liberal side of the debate the general idea is that basic income
should be provided by a more limited distribution of welfare. For example by
providing basic income only for those who are outside of the labor market or
who lack other kind of sufficient income. Also there can be an age limit
such as providing basic income only for individuals in the age span of 19 – 65
years.
Historically seen
the idea of basic income has had its supporters among liberal thinkers. One
prominent thinker who supported the idea of such income was Friedrich Hayek. As a
classical liberal he was against existence of the welfare state. However he
argued that an individual should be guaranteed a basic income if for example
being left out from the labor market. For Hayek the main assignment of the
basic income was to deal with and correct the”imperfections” of the free market
economy. According to Hayek the basic income could function as a protective
floor to hinder the individual from falling down into poverty. For him this was
a preferable method for making things right in the free market economy where the
government could provide support for the individual in a difficult
socio-economic situation. A classical liberal argument can therefore be
presented in short as the argument that every individual member of the society
should be guaranteed a freedom from poverty.
Similar ideas as
Hayek's are proposed by Matt Zwolinski, a
bleeding-heart libertarian and philosophy professor in USA
Another support
for the economic-liberal basic income policy are original ideas of liberal
economist Milton Friedman regarding the negative income tax (NIT).
The main idea is that a person without income or earning much less than the
average salary would be able to receive payments in form of subsidies from the
taxation agency based on the scale the person`s income gets under the tax
threshold. In contrast to the progressive taxation, the NIT is also part of the
method where overall taxation would be lower and managed with different
percentage depending on the size of the taxpayer’s income. Friedman's vision
was that this would be a kind of win-win situation where the welfare state and
its spending are being reduced while individual is more stimulated to take a
low-paid jobs as well as getting protected from poverty.
Finally there are
also more social-liberal arguments for basic income based on the positive
rights. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King also
advocated that a basic income should be given to every citizen, human and
families in the USA. He argued that it was easier to erase poverty than to deal
with its roots. Interesting fact is that president Richard Nixon was also in
favor of basic income policy which was called the family assistance plan and
inspired by Friedman's approach. For Martin Luther King the basic income was a
way for empowering the civil rights movement and also of reshaping the society
into becoming more civic.
In Europe historically seen the
idea of the welfare state was from the beginning a conservative idea which can
be traced to Bismarck's Germany during the later period of 19-th century. By
for example providing guaranteed pensions and free schooling for all citizens
it was a method of maintaining the stability in the society. Many conservative
politicians at the time were for example worried about the class-based struggle
and protesting actions among the growing working class. Today the idea of
having larger or smaller welfare states is widely spread across the union,
including the different models being implemented such as the Nordic and the
continental model. For most of the citizens welfare is not a question of having
or not having but a question about what kind of the welfare policy should be
exercised.
The current basic
income experiments in Finland at the national level and in Netherlands at the
local level were mostly initiated by parties belonging to Alliance of Liberals
and Democrats for Europe. One influential condition that this was made possible
is that both Finland and Netherlands have a long history of welfare
redistribution polices as well as enough resources. The basic income idea has
therefore a lot of potential to become a modern welfare approach in future
within the EU in order to have a more human centric welfare policy rather than
older versions of paternalistic and integrity infringing welfare states.
BIEN. Phillipe van
Parijs, ”Basic Income and Social Democracy”. Published: 2016-05-03. Downloaded:
2016-07-12. Website: http://www.basicincome.org/news/2016/05/philippe-van-parijs-basic-income-and-social-democracy/
BBC. Switzerland’s
voters reject basic income plan. Published: 2016-06-05. Downloaded: 2016-07-12.
Website: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36454060
Boundless.com.
History of the Welfare State. Published: Unknown. Downloaded: 2016-07-12.
Website: https://www.boundless.com/political-science/textbooks/boundless-political-science-textbook/social-policy-17/the-welfare-state-105/history-of-the-welfare-state-558-6935/
Cato Unbound. The
Pragmatic Libertarian Case for a Basic Income Guarantee. Published: 2014-08-04.
Downloaded: 2016-07-12. Website: http://www.cato-unbound.org/2014/08/04/matt-zwolinski/pragmatic-libertarian-case-basic-income-guarantee
Investopedia.
Negative Income Tax – NIT. Published: Unknown. Downloaded: 2016-07-12. Website:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/negativeincometax.asp
Libertarianism.org . Why Did
Hayek Support a Basic Income? Published: 2013-12-23. Downloaded: 2016-07-12.
Website: http://www.libertarianism.org/columns/why-did-hayek-support-basic-income
The Atlantic. Martin Luther
King’s Economic Dream: A Guaranteed Income for All Americans. Published:
2013-08-23. Downloaded: 2016-07-12.
Website: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/martin-luther-kings-economic-dream-a-guaranteed-income-for-all-americans/279147/
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