Switzerland will be the first country in the world to vote on having a national wage of £1,700 a month

• Emma Henderson
• Saturday 30 January 2016

Switzerland is set to vote on a proposal that wants to pay everyone 2,500 Swiss francs (£1,700) a month regardless of whether people are working or not.

If the plans go through, it will become the first country in the world to provide a basic unconditional monthly income, and they are already the first country to vote on the matter. 

The idea, which has been put forward by a group of intellectuals who insist people will still want to work and get jobs, has not received positive interest from either left and right sided politicians. 

The federal government approved to vote on the intiative in June. 

The rationale behind the scheme is to break the link between employment and income, where people will have guaranteed income regardless whether they are in employment or not.

The committee’s proposal is based on a survey, carried out by Demoscope Institute, which reportedly showed the majority of Swiss residents would carry on working, or still look for a job, even if the guaranteed income was approved.

The survey also said only two per cent of people were likely to stop working, while eight per cent said they “could envisage this possibility depending on circumstances,” reported the Local.

In a statement, the committee said: “The argument of opponents that a guaranteed income wouldn’t reduce the incentive of people to work is by this largely contradicted.”

The initiative also wants to give each child 625 francs a month (£430).

The plan would cost the government around 208 billion francs a year (£143 bn), where 150bn francs would need to be levied from taxes and a further 55bn francs would be transferred from social insurance and social assistance spending, the Local reported.

The results of the survey showed a third of the 1,076 people interviewed, believed if the proposal came into force, other people would stop working.

While 56 per cent of those surveyed said the proposal will “never see the light of day”.

Taken from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/switzerland-will-be-the-first-country-in-the-world-to-vote-on-having-a-national-wage-of-1700-a-month-a6843666.html

Lol. Sounds like something that shit bag Sanders would champion.

Only way I'd support this is in the United States is if they killed foodstamps, welfare, the EIC, disability, and then cracked down on immigration.

Might as well vote on torching every building in their country.

Do you think this would ever have a chance of seeing daylight in the USA though? Many people would be very unhappy about the possibility

It's an advanced idea that i suppose the capitalist world is not ready to embrace, but i see it happening in advanced societies. Pretty much it's how the Star trek earth society is portrayed aswell. Famine wouldn't be an issue and people would strive to better themselves.
Obviously, it would make employers lose the power of abuse, so they will always be opposed to it.

It's good to see ideas beeing thrown around though.

I think a national wage that's liveable is a very bad idea in the long run.

People will have less incentive to work and unemployment will rise leading to the government not being wealthy enough to afford a national wage anymore.

If they killed off other aid, and sealed the borders - then yes. Illegal immigration would become a REAL problem if this passed here.

It could work financially by removing disability, unemployment, and phasing out social security.

Well, it's not anywhere close to the society proposed in Star Trek since it still involves currency being exchanged. It would most likely not work in practice since it relies on the capitalistic concept. If they had abolished currency all together and everything is free for everyone (housing, food and so on) then it would be closer to Star Trek :).

I want to see it work for sure. I think it would be a huge step forward

That sounds awesome to be honest.
I mean you can still work and earn more ontop of this... so I guess its just a means of redistribution of tax's ?
The highest income earners are going to end up paying for boosting the lower wage earners up abit.

Still... I like the idea, the strong help the weak.