BIST2016 / Albert Svan: Basic income possibilities – based on informal studies from Iceland
Channel: Piraattipuolue r.p.
Date: 2016-08-30

Albert S. Sigurdsson has an M.Sc. degree from the Geography Department of the University of Helsinki. He currently works at Statistics Iceland. Since graduation he has also worked at the Finnish Environment Institute, Iceland’s Environment Agency, Lionbridge Technologies and Futuvision Media.

(Download slides here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_UMITxsYOwnQlIwcGRaUkpCVzQ)

Basic income possibilities – based on informal studies from Iceland

In Iceland the Pirate party is preparing a policy for implementing a basic income scheme. The debate started a couple of years ago when congressman Halldóra Mogensen proposed a legislation on basic income at the Icelandic Parliament. Some prelimenary calculations show that 1/3 of the Icelandic government budget already goes to direct money transfers to Icelandic individuals and that a modest basic income amount for all persons 18+ old will cost 2/3 of the budget while a negative income tax may cost a similar amount as the current social financial aid. Of many prerequisites one initial observation is that a regular calculation of basic income criteria should be calculated regularly and that a legislation of lowest allowed salaries must be somewhat higher than the basic income criteria.

About the seminar
Finland's first international basic income seminar #BIST2016 was organized by Varsinais-Suomen Piraatit with the help of Basic Income Earth Network Finland, Pirate Party of Finland and Pirate Youth of Finland.