Next Month, Switzerland Will Vote on Giving Everyone a Basic Income

The idea of granting every citizen a no-strings-attached universal basic income is still treated as a utopian idea in America. In Switzerland, they’re a month away from voting on it.

The measure is not likely to pass! Still, it’s a notable step for the basic income movement. This appears to be the first time an entire nation will put the idea to a vote. The Swiss proposal would give “$2,600 a month tax-free to every adult citizen and legal resident, and $650 to each child.” The current proposal is also means-tested, meaning that those who earned more than $2,600 a month would not get the government stipend, although that part of their earnings would be tax-exempt. This makes it a not-quite universal basic income, but at least something within spitting distance of one.

If you give children nothing it would be more affordable. Think about it. They can’t vote.

This vote will probably fail, and it is thoroughly possible that the measure is not perfectly conceived anyhow. But with global economic leaders discussing “helicopter money” schemes and prominent people of all political persuasions arguing for basic income to counteract technology’s disruption of human jobs, a national vote feels like one more step on the road to legitimacy.

I hope that this free money becomes real in my lifetime and NOT after.