Swiss refuse to receive money without working – La Prensa de Honduras

Geneva Switzerland

The Swiss rejected en masse on Sunday the creation of a basic income for all, employed or unemployed, single project in the world that led to intense debates in a country where the value of work is venerated.

according to preliminary trends released by the Swiss public television, about 78% of voters rejected the proposal, according to a national projection polling institute Gfs. bern.

, open for only two hours since most of the Swiss vote by mail, polling stations closed at 12 pm local (4:00 am EDT Honduras). The final results will be announced at the beginning of the night.

The rejection of this proposal, submitted by a group with no political affiliation, not surprising in a country that, in 2012, refused to raise the annual period of paid leave 4 to 6 weeks for fear of losing competitiveness.

“the Swiss voted in a realistic way,” he said on television RTS Andreas Ladner, a professor at the university of Lausanne, after disclosed the results.

This popular initiative “for a Basic Income Unconditional” (RBI) proposed to pay an allowance or salary to all Swiss or foreigners living in the country for at least five years, and whether or not they work.

the initiative suggested a monthly fee of 2,500 Swiss francs (2,260 euros or 2,533 US dollars) for adults -the sum which is very difficult to live in Switzerland- and 625 francs (565 euros, 634 dollars) for children.

This would have required a source of additional funding of about 25,000 million francs per year, and therefore a tax increase or new taxes.

“It’s a dream that has existed for some time, “but became” indispensable “due to unemployment caused by the increasing robotization, had explained before the vote, one of the leaders of the initiative, Ralph Kundig.

Both the government and most political parties considered utopian and overly costly project.

“it’s an old dream, a little Marxist. There are many good feelings, incontrovertible but without any economic consideration, “noted the director of the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies in Geneva, Charles Wyplosz, who said that if the relationship between pay and work is over,” people will do less “.