Switzerland government plans to give all adults £425 a week to end poverty
The controversial proposal will go to a nationwide
referendum - but many think the plan would be abused by many who chose
not to work
End poverty: The plan would cost an estimated £143 billion a year
The Switzerland government plans to pay every single adult a guaranteed £425 a week – whether they work or not .
The radical plan will be voted on in a countrywide referendum later this year.
If the Swiss vote yes it would make the country the first in the world
to pay all of its citizens an unconditional income, with politicians
hoping it could help abolish poverty .
Under the scheme each child would also receive £100 a week.
The government estimates the cost of the proposal at £143 billion a year.
Getty
Incentive: The Swiss government would switch funds from social assistance spending
Around £105 bn would be raised from taxes, while £38 bn would
be transferred from social insurance and social assistance spending.
The
initiative’s committee said in a statement: “The argument of opponents
that a guaranteed income would reduce the incentive of people to work is
therefore largely contradicted.”
The group said a new survey
showed that the majority of Swiss residents would continue working if
the guaranteed income proposal was approved. Read more:
Tory plot to scrap child poverty targets dealt whopping defeat in the House of Lords
Only two percent would stop working, while eight percent said they could may stop working depending on circumstances.
However,
a third of the 1,076 people interviewed for the survey by the Demoscope
Institute believed that ‘others would stop working’.
And more than half of those surveyed (56 percent) believe the guaranteed income proposal will never see the light of day.
No comments:
Post a Comment