Switzerland to hold referendum on basic income

GENEVA ( AFP) — In a global first, the Swiss will vote today on a radical proposal to provide the entire population with enough money to live on, no strings attached.

Voters are being asked whether they want all Swiss citizens, along with foreigners who have been legal residents in Switzerland for at least five years, to receive an unconditional basic income or UBI.

The amount to be paid has yet to be determined, but the non- political group behind the initiative has suggested paying 2,500 Swiss francs a month to each adult, and 625 francs for each child.

That may sound like a lot, but it is barely enough to get by on in one of the world’s priciest nations — leaving plenty of incentive to work, campaigners said.

Supporters said providing such an income would help fight poverty and inequality in a world where good jobs with steady salaries are becoming harder to find.

The idea is controversial, to say the least. The Swiss government and nearly all the country’s political parties have urged voters to reject the initiative — advice which 71 percent are inclined to follow, according to the latest poll.

Critics have slammed the initiative as “a Marxist dream,” warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, to the detriment of the economy.

“If you pay people to do nothing, they will do nothing,” Professor Charles Wyplosz, economics professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told