Socialists: Basic income means for better society

Budapest, May 18 (MTI) – The introduction of a basic income is not a goal but a means to create a better society, the leader of the Socialist Party said at an international conference in Budapest on Wednesday.

József Tóbiás told the conference on basic income organised jointly by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies and the Tancsics Foundation that the discussion about basic income should focus on whether it can be used to advance social mobility.

He said an unconditional basic income would constitute a nationwide zero-sum redistribution scheme. It would help promote domestic consumption, encourage couples to have more children, reduce poverty and crime and boost social integration, he added.

A basic income would mean that people would not only receive “financial recognition” for their work, but they would also be seen as being useful to society for the value they produce, Tobias said.

Tóbiás said there is need for a radical paradigm shift in the economy that could bring about a more socially just, “more humane” world. This, however, would require more reforms than just the introduction of the basic income.

Zita Gurmai, the deputy president of FEPS and a board member of the Socialist Party, said that in “[Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán’s Hungary”, the discussion about social rights is not about expanding them but rather about protecting the ones that are still left.