by Liam Upton | Apr 22, 2015 | News
The Oregon legislature has introduced two bills aimed at making polluters pay more while dividing the proceeds among every Oregonian, a policy known as Cap and Dividend.
One of the bills, HB 3176, similar to that introduced by Chris Van Hollen in the federal Congress this year, plans to introduce permits for emitting carbon, which will then be sold at auction. The amount of permits will be reduced over time, reducing the amount of carbon emitted while increasing the money generated, in turn increasing or steadying the amount of money divided between citizens.
The other bill, HB 3250, would introduce a simple tax on carbon emissions, the revenue of which would also be divided between citizens. Either plan could lead to $500 – $1,500 being given to everyone in Oregon. This is not a Basic Income as it it is not enough to cover the basic needs for survival but it would be unconditionally granted to all, leading to some calling it a ‘partial basic income’.
The plans are similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund which does not gain money from polluters but rather invests in the state’s natural resources with the proceeds divided between all residents in a yearly check. This check comes to an average of around $1,000 a year. If the auction plan is adopted in Oregon, income to citizens would eventually decrease and end as the number of permits to emit carbon is reduced and eventually stopped, though this is not expected to happen until around 2050.
For more information, see:
Kristin Eberhard, “What If Polluters Paid and You Got the Money?”, Sightline Daily, 02 April 2015
by Liam Upton | Apr 20, 2015 | News
The Centre Party, a party which is in support of Basic Income, will become the largest party in the Finnish parliament, after winning yesterday’s election.
They received 21% of the vote with 99% of votes counted. Other Basic Income-supporting parties, the Green League and the Left Alliance were on 8% and 7% respectively. This is a big gain for both the Centre Party and the Green League but is a reduction in support for the Left Alliance. The second and third biggest parties respectively were the conservative NCP party and the populist True Finns. As a result, the Centre Party is predicted to form a ruling coalition with these two parties.
While the Centre Party has come out in support of Basic Income, it is not certain where these other two parties lie on the issue and whether we would see some movement on Basic Income with these parties in government. The leader of the NCP and former prime minister, Alexander Stubb has expressed his support for Basic Income in parliament, however, the policy is not mentioned in his party’s manifesto. The True Finns have made no statements about the policy.
In a recent poll of candidates for the election by state news organisation YLE, 57% of NCP candidates were opposed to Basic Income while 87% of Centre Party respondents and 57% of True Finns respondents were in favour.
Though this coalition is more likely, a centre-left coalition with the Social Democratic Party (16.5%), the Greens and the Left Alliance is also a possibility. The Greens and Left Alliance already favour Basic Income and while it is not part of the SDP’s platform, 53% of their candidates are in favour according to the above-mentioned poll.
A public opinion poll on the issue earlier this year by a think tank associated with the Centre Party showed 79% of the public in favour of Basic Income.
For more information, see:
YLE, “Polls close in Finnish election“, YLE, 19 April 2015
Johanna Perkiio, “Finland: the opposition leader proposes Basic Income pilots”, Basic Income News, 9 October 2014
Stanislas Jourdan, “Finnish Green Party updates its Basic Income policy”, Basic Income News, 17 February 2015
Stanislas Jourdan, “Finland: 65% of parliamentary candidates favour Basic Income”, Basic Income News, 12 March 2015
by Liam Upton | Apr 3, 2015 | News
The Women’s Campaign of the UK’s National Union of Students has adopted Universal Basic Income, resolving to ‘widely publicise the societal need for a Universal Basic Income’ and make it ‘a priority in 2015-2016 for NUS Women’s Campaign’, calling it ‘a very important feminist issue’.
The policy was adopted as Motion 302 at the 2015 NUS Women Conference which took place at Solihull, England on the 24 – 26 March.
The NUS Women’s Campaign is an autonomous campaign within the National Union of Students which campaigns on women’s issues.
For more information, see:
NUS Women’s Campaign, “Motions and Amendments”, NUS Women’s Campaign, 24 – 26 March 2015
by Liam Upton | Apr 1, 2015 | News
The UK based group GlobalNet21 will be hosting a debate at 7pm on the 7th April 2015 between Universal Credit and Guaranteed Income.
On one side will be James Symes, the prospective Conservative party candidate for the constituency of Ealing South. The Conservative party are the current leading party in the UK government. He will be defending the Conservatives’ flagship welfare reform programme, Universal Credit, which replaces a number of previously existing welfare programmes in the UK.
On the other side will be David Flint, the Green party candidate for Enfield North. He will be defending the Green party proposal of Basic Income for all.
To attend, go to this link and log in as a guest or registered user. There is also a meetup page here.
GlobalNet21 is a organisation aiming to hold debates on a global level regarding current topics. They are running a project to hold 5 web debates between the 5 main parties contesting the upcoming UK general election.
by Liam Upton | Mar 8, 2015 | News
GiveDirectly, “This week in cash transfers“, GiveDirectly Blog, 13 February 2015
