by Andre Coelho | Jul 4, 2015 | News
Roberto Merrill @ PAN p´ra Mangas
On the 16th of June, the Portuguese political party PAN (Pessoas-Animais-Natureza) organized a public talk about Basic Income (BI) in central Lisbon. PAN is presently the only political party in Portugal which defends the BI concept within its electoral program. Another political party, Livre/Tempo de Avançar, has however not formally codified the idea into its platform.
PAN invited researchers and BI activists Roberto Merrill and Pedro Teixeira, who respectively talked about pre-distribution strategies and financing a BI in the Portuguese context. Merrill, a political philosopher, explained three strategies for social pre-distribution of wealth, but “insisted on the importance of developing the commons model of pre-distribution, not only as a way of contributing to a more sustainable world, but also as a way to partly finance a basic income not only in cash, but also through the equalization of an access to commons for all.” Teixeira, a researcher specializing in economic policy, focused on presenting his study on financing a BI in Portugal, specifically from reforming the income tax. Preliminary results show that a modest 420 €/month BI is feasible, even without considering extra sources of financing (such as further tax collection from current tax evasion or financial transactions).
PAN promotes regular debates on important social issues in an initiative called PAN p’ra Mangas where, besides BI, many other themes are explored, such as TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), environmental taxes, Earth Condominium, food citizenship, and corruption.
More information at:
In Portuguese:
https://www.pan.com.pt/comunicacao/noticias/item/494-mangas-2015-03-09.html
In Portuguese:
Roberto Merrill, “Three ways of pre-distribution [Três formas de pré-distribuição]“, Rendimento Básico website, 2015
by Andre Coelho | Jun 18, 2015 | News
Francisco Guerreiro at ISCTE, Lisboa
Francisco Guerreiro is one of the active members in Portuguese political party PAN’s (Pessoas-Animais-Natureza) national political commission. He, among others in PAN, defend Basic Income as a crucial transitional social policy to a better society, where basic needs are assured for all citizens. PAN is presently preparing the upcoming national elections, and will continue to support a Basic Income implementation, as it did in the past European Elections.
In order to deepen PAN’s knowledge about Basic Income, collect data and widen their supporters network, Francisco has visited Lisbon’s Basic Income activist group, at a meeting which took place at professor António Dores office, at ISCTE (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa). In this informal meeting, a mild but productive discussion took place, at the end of which Francisco Guerreiro recorded a short video. Agreeing on the essential (aspects of Basic Income), these activists acknowledge that the greatest challenge at the moment is how to communicate the Basic Income concept and potential implications to a wider audience.
More information at:
Language: Portuguese
PAN, “European Political Program 2014 [Programa Político Europeias 2014]“, PAN’s Website 2015
Language: Portuguese
RBI-Portugal official website: https://www.rendimentobasico.pt/
by Andre Coelho | Jun 6, 2015 | News
Local Finnish authorities at Åland, a Swedish speaking archipelago between Finland and Sweden mainland, are considering, within their territory, the creation of a special fiscal zone where basic income-like social experiments could be performed. The Åland Office of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland presently manages conditional basic income benefits for locals, but could be on the brink of taking the next bold step of turning these benefit schemes entirely unconditional.
The recently elected Center Party, which is presently the most represented party in the Finnish Parliament and supporter of Basic Income, is willing to regionally experiment its implementation. That is why Sonja Nordenswan, activist in basic income support group BINK – basinkomst Åland (Åland basic income), is confident about the possibilities of this government actually moving forward with this projet.
Anna Wiksten, Sonja Nordenswan, Erica Scott. Foto: Tomas Tornefjell.
In a recent radio program from Åland local radio and TV network RTV, Sonja Nordenswan has also referred to a possible 1000 € per month basic income, which could replace most of present day state funded benefits, such as social security, unemployment benefits and tax credits. These and other aspects were debated at this radio venue, organized by ABF, an Åland based association of workers focused on learning processes, training and culture.
More information at:
Åland Office of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, 2015
In Finnish:
Tomas Torre Fjell, “Åland as a testing field for Basic Income [Åland testområde för basinkomst]“, RTV Åland radio/tv, May 25, 2015
Liam Upton, “FINLAND: Pro-Basic Income Centre Party wins election“, April 20, 2015
Credit picture CC ehrenbergkommunikation
by Andre Coelho | Jun 3, 2015 | Research
Red Renta Basica. Article “Negative Income Tax em Portugal”
Abtract:”The NIT – Negative Income Tax – is a wealth redistribution system. It works through a tax which reaches for a part of the richest population wealth and distributes it through all others, in an automatic and unconditional fashion. This means no questions asked and no job seeking requirement, but also without introducing a disincentive to work.
This study is a simulation over such a tax in Portugal, in its present day conditions. This tax would be the actual labor tax with some changes. From the simulation with labor tax working this way in a “closed circuit” and a 50% tax on each citizen’s income over 7000 €, it would be possible to guarantee to all adult Portuguese citizens a monthly income of at least 300 €.
Comparing to present day values, this simulated tax represents an increased taxation on the highest incomes. But this tax can be set at any other level, which conditions how much redistribution will occur.
NIT will turn several State social benefits obsolete. Eliminating these programs will relieve public spending by an amount around 70% of what is presently collected with labor tax. Furthermore, the NIT challenges present day public programs for employment and support in unemployment. These programs are based upon the idea that jobs are the source of income for citizens, which means that if those incomes can be guaranteed by other means, then the former can be eliminated, total or partially. This can save public treasury up to more than present day labor tax collection.
The NIT is also associated with solidarity and social cohesion, which naturally will clash with maintaining large incomes and pensions for a minority, as it supports dignified income for all as a human right. This can lead to ceiling caps on pensions, which will liberate even more public funds.
Finally, NIT will reduce poverty and, proportionally, its weight on public funds, in terms of health costs, security costs, among others.
Miguel Horta (2015), “Negative Income Tax in Portugal [Negative Income Tax em Portugal]“, Red Renta Básica, April 24 2015
by Andre Coelho | May 10, 2015 | News
Roberto Merrill (credit to: ECO123)
A short interview with basic income activist and professor Roberto Merrill, in online magazine ECO123.
ECO123, “Interview with Roberto Merrill“, ECO123, April 21 2015
