台灣首次舉辦線上基本收入高峰會

台灣首次舉辦線上基本收入高峰會

經過一年多的時間,台灣避免重大的本土 COVID 疫情的爆發,不過台灣在 5 月經歷了恐慌,出現了數百個病例。由於一夜之間數以百萬計的工作崗位不穩定,這將普發現金的措施帶到了台灣政治辯論的前沿。

在此背景下,UBI Taiwan 於 8 月 15 日舉辦了首次線上基本收入高峰會,邀請來自世界各地的學者、運動人士以及政治人物來討論疫情期間的基本收入狀況。

韓國京畿道知事李在明在高峰會開幕時指出了基本收入運動對於韓國和台灣的重要性。李現正參選韓國總統競選初期的領先地位。由於他的社會福利的政見,他被稱為『韓國的桑德斯』。

「當世界正在實施擴張性財政政策時,基本收入作為面臨第四次工業革命時代的最理性和準備措施」李說。

作為城南市前市長,李實行了一項青年基本收入計畫,該計畫讓該市所有 24 歲的青年每季度獲得地方貨幣。該計畫說明地方貨幣可以改善該地區的小型企業活動。後來當他成為知事時,他將該計畫擴展到了全省。

Kim Kyeong Soo 是京畿道政府願景規劃師的管理人。他也是青年基本收入計畫的規劃者。

「我們所做的是實現年輕人的基本社會權利而保障年輕人的權利」Kim 說。

青年基本收入是 COVID 危機期間的一個有用模型,因為省政府能夠在經濟衰退期間迅速擴大該計畫以包括該省的所有居民。

Kim 還討論了他們如何在疫情期間增加不同的社會福利項目,以及在全國範圍內推動基本收入的計畫。

「我們將地方貨幣的設計成只能在年銷售額在 12 億韓元以下的商店中可以用,這樣才能真正振興真正的胡同經濟的小企業主」Kim 說。

韓國基本收入網的成員 Mok Hwakyun 和 Kim Jae-seop 出席了高峰會的問答環節。他們提到基本收入已經成為韓國的主流話題。

「最大的變化是現在每個人都知道基本收入。我希望韓國能夠成為第一個實施 UBI 的國家」Mok 說。

著名的美國活動家 Scott Santens 在會議的採訪,他討論了美國大規模的 COVID 救濟計畫的成功和失敗。在美國已經出現的最大變化之一是兒童稅收抵免,Santens 表示,他相信這將使更多人會支持全民基本收入。

「我充滿希望,尤其是每月的兒童稅收抵免將真正改變這裡的情況,並有助於為美國建立真正的 UBI」Santens 說。

台灣陽明大學黃嵩立教授討論了全民基本服務與基本收入之間的爭論。他的結論是,基本服務沒有提供與基本收入相同的個人自由。

UBI Taiwan 理事長羅泰(Tyler Prochazka )評估了台灣的 COVID 救濟響應,並指出了台灣救濟的不足和複雜性。

今年 5 月,當地爆發導致台灣在疫情期間首次進入三級。台灣正在經歷一個奇怪的矛盾,儘管其他行業被封鎖,但其強勁的出口產業推動了台灣創紀錄的經濟增長。與此同時,封鎖令台灣員工經歷了數十年來最糟糕的經濟狀況,尤其是服務業。

由於封鎖,一半台灣人的工資減少了 10% 至 50%,且 74% 的人表示工資有所減少。與此同時,41% 的台灣人表示他們認為政府的 COVID 救濟計畫沒有提供任何幫助。救濟計畫的一些問題是,它依賴大量文件來證明個人的情況。比如說,如果家人的銀行裡有太多錢,也可能排除申請人。

例如,台灣在封鎖期間失業人數達到 57 萬人,低於正常工作時間的人數達到近 100 萬人。然而,6 月份的失業救濟人數僅增加了 2 萬人,不到同期真正失業人數增加的四分之一。

台灣的二級封鎖已延長至 9 月 6 日,這對企業的運營方式施加了不同程度的限制,並完全關閉了某些企業,例如某些娛樂場所。即使大部分地區恢復正常,但在可預見的未來,許多企業的運營可能會繼續受到限制,需求也會減少。

儘管台灣是幾十年來最糟糕的就業形勢之一,但今年政府僅將其年度 GDP 的 6% 用於 COVID 救濟計畫。與日本和美國將其國內生產總值的 16% 至 30% 用於 COVID 救濟相比,台灣作為發達經濟體對其公民的幫助要少得多。

台灣執政黨民進黨正準備推出另一輪價值 5,000 新台幣(180 美元)的振興券。由於與 COVID 救濟計畫相關的嚴格條件,對於許多台灣家庭來說,通用振興券是政府 COVID 響應中最容易獲得的幫助。台灣在野黨現在大力推動為大多數台灣人發放現金而不是券,並利用行政儲蓄為貧困家庭提供額外的現金補助。

「台灣執政黨表示,他們希望與所有台灣人『分享經濟增長』,不過分享經濟增長的真正方式是無條件基本收入」羅泰說。

Original English Article here.

Translation: Tyler Prochazka & Pandora Lai

台灣首次舉辦線上基本收入高峰會

Taiwan holds first online basic income summit

After over a year of avoiding significant local COVID outbreaks, Taiwan experienced a scare in May with hundreds of cases emerging. This brought the idea of universal cash payments to the forefront of Taiwan’s political debate as millions of jobs were destabilized overnight.

With this backdrop, UBI Taiwan held its first-ever online basic income summit on August 15, inviting professors, activists, and politicians from around the world to discuss the state of basic income during the COVID pandemic.

Korea’s Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung opened the summit by noting the importance of the basic income movement in Korea and Taiwan. Lee is currently a frontrunner in the early stages of Korea’s presidential race. He has been called the “Bernie Sanders of Korea” because of his economic proposals.

“When the world is implementing expansive fiscal policy, basic income is gaining attention as the most rational and remarkable way to prepare for the era of the fourth industrial revolution,” Lee said in his address to the conference.

As the former mayor of Seongnam, Lee started a youth basic income program for all 24-year-old youth in the city to receive local currency every quarter. The scheme was shown to improve small business activity in the region. He later expanded the program to the province when he became governor.

Kim Kyeong Soo is part of the Gyeonggi provincial government vision planner. He is the planner of the provincial youth basic income program.

“What we are doing at our expense is to realize the basic social rights of young people,” Kim said in an interview for the conference.

This was a useful model during the COVID crisis because the provincial government was able to quickly expand the program to include all residents of the province during the economic downturn.

Kim also discussed how they increased a myriad of programs during the COVID pandemic and the plans to push for basic income on a nationwide scale.

“We designed it so that it could only be used in stores with annual sales of 1.2 billion won or less, so that the money could be actually revitalized for the small business owners of the real alley economy,” Kim said.

Members of the Basic Income Korea Network Mok Hwakyun and Kim Jae-seop attended the summit for the question-and-answer session. They noted how basic income has become a mainstream topic in Korea.

“The biggest change is that everyone knows about basic income now,” Mok said. “I hope Korea will be the first country” to implement UBI.

Prominent US activist Scott Santens gave a pre-recorded interview for the conference where he discussed the success and failures of America’s massive COVID relief program. One of the biggest changes that has emerged is the Child Tax Credit, which Santens said he believes will get more people on board with a wider basic income safety net.  

“I feel hopeful that especially the monthly CTC is going to really change things here and help build momentum for a full UBI here in the US,” Santens said.

Taiwan’s Yangming University Professor Song-Lih Huang discussed the debate between Universal Basic Services compared to basic income. He concluded that UBS does not provide the same level of individual freedom as UBI.

UBI Taiwan Chairman Tyler Prochazka evaluated Taiwan’s COVID relief response and noted the inadequacy and complexity of receiving relief.

The situation became more severe this past May when a local outbreak caused Taiwan to go into level 3 lockdown for the first time during the pandemic. Taiwan is experiencing a bizarre contradiction, where record economic growth is fueled by its strong export sector despite the lockdown for other industries. At the same time, the lockdown has caused Taiwan’s employees to experience their worst economic situation in decades, particularly for the service industry.

As a result of the lockdown, half of Taiwanese experienced wage reductions of 10 to 50 percent, and 74 percent reported some reduction in wages. At the same time, 41 percent said they believed the government’s COVID relief program provided no help. One issue with the relief program is it relies on extensive documentation to prove an individual’s circumstance and can also reject an applicant if a household member has too much money in the bank.

For example, Taiwan’s unemployment had reached 570,000 people and the number experiencing lower than normal working hours had reached nearly one million during the lockdown. However, only 20,000 people were added to unemployment benefits during June which is less than one-fourth of the increased unemployment for that period.  

Level two lockdown has been extended until September 6 in Taiwan, which places varying levels of restrictions on how businesses operate and closes some businesses entirely, such as certain entertainment venues. Even as much of the country returns to normal, many businesses will likely experience continued restrictions on their operations as well as reduced demand for the foreseeable future.

Despite one of the worst employment situations in decades for Taiwan, the government has only allocated around 6 percent of its annual GDP on COVID relief this year. Compared to Japan and the United States, which spent between 16 to 30 percent of their GDPs on COVID relief, Taiwan has given significantly less to its citizens as a developed economy.

Taiwan’s ruling party Democratic Progressive Party is moving toward another round of stimulus coupons worth 5,000 NT ($180 USD). Due to the stringent conditions associated with COVID relief programs, the universal coupons are the most accessible program from the government’s COVID response for many families. There has been a strong push by opposition parties in Taiwan to provide cash relief now for most Taiwanese instead of coupons and use the administrative savings to give an additional cash boost to poor households.

“Taiwan’s ruling party said they want to ‘share economic growth’ with all Taiwanese,” Prochazka said. “The real way to share economic growth is with Universal Basic Income.”

‘Liberate our imagination’: Taiwan holds first basic income march

‘Liberate our imagination’: Taiwan holds first basic income march

Taiwan held its first-ever basic income march on Sunday, attracting over 100 participants to rally in front of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan. Current and former legislators joined the march led by UBI Taiwan, calling for greater discussion of a youth dividend and guaranteeing the right to a basic livelihood for all Taiwanese.

A prominent national legislator in Taiwan People’s Party, Tsai Pi-ru, gave a speech at the opening of the march in front of the Legislative Yuan. She said she attended because she wanted to show her support for Taiwan’s young people who are “bravely” speaking out. Tsai discussed the possibility of using a carbon tax and dividend as a step toward basic income.

“While participating in the basic income parade today, I saw young friends stand up. They are courageous to stand up for a new idea that is easily misunderstood,” she said.

National legislator from Taiwan People’s Party Tsai Pi-ru addresses the rally outside of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Taiwan. Photo: Lin Yen Ting / UBI Taiwan 攝影:林彥廷 / 台灣無條件基本收入協會

UBI Taiwan informally began in 2016 and was formally established in 2018. In that time, the group has held three international conferences and produced multiple white papers analyzing methods for implementing basic income. Most recently, UBI Taiwan released a white paper advocating for an emergency basic income, meeting with legislators in early 2020 to discuss the possibility of including cash transfers in Taiwan’s stimulus measures.

The organizers said there were three main demands of the march: guarantee the right to basic subsistence, protect a sense of economic security, and prevent working families from being trapped in low-paying jobs. 

As the global pandemic continues to rage on, Taiwan has not experienced a local transmission for over 200 days which allowed the rally to take place without restrictions. Nonetheless, march organizers said the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic created a new urgency for the basic income discussion in Taiwan. Despite expecting modest growth overall this year, Taiwan has experienced uneven effects from the global downturn which disproportionately harmed low-income families. 

Marchers walk near Taipei Main Station in Taipei, Taiwan. Photo: Lin Yen Ting / UBI Taiwan 攝影:林彥廷 / 台灣無條件基本收入協會

Former national legislator and magistrate of Tainan county Su Huan-chih said at the march that promoting the basic income system will help young people increase their flexibility and opportunities in choosing jobs, and will also help the unemployed maintain their dignity.

The General-Secretary of Taiwan’s Green Party Rita Jhang said basic income “provides universal protection for every person, alleviating the plight of exploitation and overwork.” Jhang said Taiwan’s current social welfare system with strict conditions and qualifications is not well suited for the rapidly changing modern era.

“When people no longer have to worry about their basic necessities, they can make longer-term plans for their lives and they can engage in more creative and public welfare work,” Jhang said.

According to Tsai, many of the criticisms against basic income were made 30 years ago when Taiwan began implementing its early social welfare system. At the time, she said many were worried social welfare would bankrupt the government. But welfare is not the area where Taiwan’s government is wasting money, she said.

“The biggest problem is that the government wastes money to build a lot of large and improper construction projects and unused government buildings. These wasteful projects create debt and harm the natural environment,” Tsai said.

To help educate the public on the issues facing Taiwan, the rally included booths to educate the public on basic income, share real stories related to basic income and the global basic income movement, as well as an open space for the public to discuss questions about basic income and the future tech-driven economy.

Prior to the march, prominent basic income scholars from around the world sent their advice and well wishes to Taiwan including Sarath Davala, the chairman of Basic Income Earth Network. Davala said that he hopes the basic income march in Taiwan becomes an “example” for other countries in the region.

“The march that is being organized in Taiwan is a sign of how strong the UBI Taiwan movement has come to and it has the capacity to provide and influence the government to adopt this innovative system,” Davala said.

University of London Professor Guy Standing said in his video address to Taiwan’s march that the pandemic has shown “the resilience of society and the resilience of all of us as individuals will depend on the resilience of the weakest members of society.” 

“Now is the moment for a basic income movement and a basic income system. Brave politicians must take this opportunity and usher in a better society,” Standing said.

A rally outside the Legislative Yuan kicked off Taiwan’s basic income march. Photo: Lin Yen Ting / UBI Taiwan 攝影:林彥廷 / 台灣無條件基本收入協會

For Tsai, Taiwan’s first basic income march was a starting point for a larger conversation about how to reimagine Taiwan’s society for the future. She discussed how basic income could help address the problems of Taipei’s high housing prices and the displacement caused by Artificial Intelligence, while encouraging greater risk-taking and entrepreneurship. 

“The great changes in the world start from small places. The world is always changing, and our imagination needs to be liberated,” Tsai said.

UBI Taiwan Chairman Tyler Prochazka took the stage to discuss why he has advocated for basic income in Taiwan. Prochazka moved from the United States to Taiwan in 2016 under a Fulbright proposal of studying the feasibility of basic income in Taiwan.

“I truly believe there is a real possibility to implement basic income in Taiwan and open up the unrealized potential among Taiwan’s young people,” Prochazka said.


A translation in Chinese can be found here.

International: Questions & Answers on UBI, with Peter Knight (video)

Peter Knight, collaborator at the Fernand Braudel Institute of World Economics, and founder (and main coordinator) of the Sufficiency4Sustainability Network, has been contacted by the Universal Basic Income (UBI) Taipei Conference (link), and produced a video (below), with insights on his experience and expertise on the issue of UBI. The Conference took place on the 16th of March 2019.

More information at:

Tyler Prochazka, “UBI Taiwan to discuss ‘key trends’ at international summit”, Basic Income News, March 7th 2019

Basic income national proposal released by ‘UBI Taiwan’

Basic income national proposal released by ‘UBI Taiwan’

UBI Taiwan held a press conference to describe their proposal to give every Taiwanese citizen a basic income each month. Skeptics and supporters were given details of how Taiwan could feasibly implement such a policy.

Taiwan’s extremely low tax rates coupled with a highly developed economy make Taiwan a feasible candidate to establish an Unconditional Basic Income (UBI), the group said.

UBI Taiwan was established in 2016 to bring attention to this policy in Taiwan, where it has not yet been a major topic of national discussion.

On the heels of the press conference, UBI Taiwan has scheduled meetings with political party representatives in Taiwan.

The national proposal briefing cover

UBI Taiwan’s basic income proposal does not include a means-test or work requirement, which means, essentially, every Taiwanese citizen would receive a stipend. Under this proposal, adults would receive 10,000 NTD per month ($330 USD) and children 5,000 NTD per month ($165 USD).

The group argued such a policy could help to alleviate income inequality, which has been growing steadily in Taiwan. It may also address some of the financial anxieties related to having children, which has created a demographic crisis on the island.

According to the white paper briefing, UBI would lower the rate of low-income families in Taiwan by 66 percent – from 25 percent currently to 8.5 percent after basic income.

The proposed amount is two-thirds of Taipei’s poverty line, which is the highest in Taiwan.

The press conference was held on October 20 at National Taiwan University’s conference venue. They outlined several methods to realize such a policy in Taiwan, focusing on either immediate or gradual implementation.

An immediate implementation would have a “gross cost” of 15 percent of Taiwan’s GDP, the group said. Ray Song, the research director for this national proposal, said the “gross cost” is misleading because it does not account for how much individuals would pay back their basic income in taxes.

Oscar Han, UBI Taiwan’s lead welfare researcher, discusses the benefits of UBI. The press conference had immense interest and was unable to provide tickets to the large number of Taiwanese who applied to attend. 

The “net cost,” which calculates how much the government is actually sending out as a basic income and not receiving back in taxes, is 3.2 percent of Taiwan’s GDP, according to the research team’s calculation.

The group argued one step Taiwan should immediately take to pay for UBI is implementing a carbon tax.

A carbon tax in Taiwan would follow South Korea, which has recently implemented a carbon trading scheme, and Japan, which heavily taxes fossil fuels and is beginning a “climate change mitigation tax.”

Taiwan currently has no carbon tax, but rather subsidizes fossil fuels by 20 billion NTD a year.

A tax on carbon of around 900 NTD per ton that increases 60 NTD per year would generate 1.7 trillion NTD in revenue over ten years, according to the proposal’s white paper.

The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research also found a carbon tax in Taiwan could generate 239 billion NTD in revenue a year by 2021.

During the question and answer session, Tyler Prochazka, UBI Taiwan’s co-founder and fellowship director, said adding a UBI on top of Taiwan’s existing social welfare system would put Taiwan closer to average welfare spending in developed countries.

The UBI Taiwan research team leadership answers questions during the press conference. Left to right: Jiakuan Su, Tyler Prochazka, Ping Xu, Ray Song, Oscar Han

“It is noteworthy that 70 percent of Taiwanese would benefit from this policy,” said Oscar Han, UBI Taiwan’s lead researcher for social welfare.

Wealthier families would still receive the basic income, but they would likely pay more in taxes than they receive from UBI, Prochazka noted.

There are several overlapping the social welfare policies in Taiwan that could be substituted by basic income, according to Song.

During the question and answer session, one audience member was concerned that eliminating other social welfare could leave some people worse off.

Prochazka explained that UBI Taiwan is not advocating eliminating any particular social welfare program, but that some would naturally fade away because a basic income would raise many individuals above the qualifying standard to receive the aid.

Considering the political difficulties with immediate implementation of UBI, the other option outlined was to model Alaska’s Permanent Fund, which has been providing a partial basic income to Alaskan residents for decades based on oil revenues and other investments, and gradually phase-in a basic income starting with young Taiwanese.

The Taiwan Permanent Fund (TPF) would collect revenue from taxes, such as a pollution tax, and invest the revenue back into the economy in order to pay out the dividends as a basic income.

The TPF proposed by UBI Taiwan would require an increase in taxes of 5.2 percent of GDP, but it would require several years to phase-in as the fund grows from its investments.

There were audience members who said they thought the phase-in for the Taiwan Permanent Fund would take too long. Song said that their calculations for the phase-in were based on conservative adjustments to taxes.

“This is the most conservative version (of our Permanent Fund plan),” Song said. “If the public is willing to increase taxes more quickly, this would allow us to achieve faster implementation of a full UBI.”

One audience member was skeptical that a basic income would improve labor relations, and she thought business owners would lower their wages in response.

Jiakuan Su, the lead taxation researcher, said that a basic income could give an employee more influence over their employers.

”We have the evidence to show that even when you just give a basic livelihood, you can give an emancipatory potential for us to choose what our passions are, rather than to be forced by economic factors to go do things that we hate,” Prochazka said.

The proposal has been under preparation since this summer when UBI Taiwan began its fellowship research program with students selected from across Taiwan. During their research, the team collaborated with economists who study basic income from various countries, as well as Taiwanese professors to guide their work.

At the beginning of the press conference, UBI Taiwan played a video featuring their supporters from around the world. Among those who showed their support included Andy Stern, Barack Obama’s former economic adviser, Peter Knight, a former World Bank economist, and Enno Schmidt, the leader of the Switzerland basic income referendum.

“A country that is brave enough to face the issues and challenges of our time and to rethink its values, I think that country deserves the leading role in this innovative issue of a Universal Basic Income,” Schmidt said in his video address to the conference.

One of the fiercest criticisms of UBI is that it will increase laziness. Schmidt thinks the opposite is true.

“We are lazy today, just living in the given economic structures. UBI is a measure against this wasting of time, destruction of social relationships and environment,” Schmidt said. “It’s a measure that brings life and work closer together and will lead you to do more, work better, because it can be your work.”

Stern has been an influential advocate of basic income in the United States. He was previously the President of the Service Employees International Union, and has written a book on UBI called “Raising the Floor.” Stern has been providing advice to UBI Taiwan since this summer.

“It’s an amazing effort and it’s just beginning, but it has the potential to change the future of work and more importantly the economic security of everyone on Taiwan,” Stern said in his video for the conference.

Guy Standing, a professor at the University of London and a co-founder of Basic Income Earth Network, advised the UBI Taiwan research team over the summer as they were preparing the proposal.

Standing’s message to Taiwan is that UBI is feasible.

“It’s feasible. It’s affordable. We’ve done pilots in India where we gave very modest amounts for thousands of people and we’ve seen that it improves nutrition, health, reduces mental stress,” Standing said in his video address for UBI Taiwan.

Ping Xu, UBI Taiwan’s co-founder and coordinator, will travel to California this week to attend a cash-transfer conference and discuss her group’s research. She said she is proud of the work they accomplished on the national proposal.

“In this group of young researchers, you can see hope for the future of Taiwan,” Xu said.

Sarath Davala, the lead researcher for the Indian basic income experiment, has worked closely with UBI Taiwan over the past year. Davala said he is hopeful that the proposal will spark a conversation about basic income in Taiwan.

“The proposal is done after rigorous analysis of the existing welfare system. It can become a model for the countries in the region,” Davala said.

The conference took place on a rainy day, but the venue was nearly full of audience members, including some political party representatives and government officials.

“Even in the pouring rain, having so many people show up to the press conference was really encouraging to us,“ said Jaiyou Wei, a research associate for UBI Taiwan. ”But this press conference is only the beginning of our plans to spread UBI in Taiwan.”