In the spring, the committee planning to reform social security got into a dispute about whether Finnish social security can be moved in the direction of a basic income in the future.
Finland social security must be reformed so that accepting a job is more profitable than it is now, writes the chairman of the Greens Maria Ohisalo and vice president of the association Elina Valtonen On HS’s Vierakynä column.
Ohisalo and Valtonen appeal to the parliamentary committee considering the reform of social security and say that its “ability to carry out a thorough overhaul, however, raises concerns”.
“We encourage the social security committee to keep all options open at this stage of the work,” Ohisalo and Valtonen write.
“We think it’s important that the committee doesn’t just figure out basic income, negative income tax and basic account, but genuinely examines these options in parallel to the current causality-based – and in many respects dysfunctional – social security.”
Read more: Social security needs to be thoroughly reformed
HS reported at the beginning of June that the social security committee has drifted into a dispute about whether Finnish social security can be moved in the direction of a basic income in the future.
The presidium proposed as the committee’s policy that unemployment insurance will continue to be remunerative and cause-based, so to speak. It means that the reason for receiving unemployment insurance is, as it is now, unemployment and applying for full-time work is a prerequisite. The Greens and the Left Alliance opposed this.
Read more: In the committee reforming social security, a dispute broke out about whether a basic income without compensation can come to Finland
In social security one key value choice is whether it is causal or universal. Universal means that a certain support belongs to everyone without any special reason or income level. The models of the Greens and the coalition lean towards the universal.
In the article, Ohisalo and Valtonen present their own ideas about reforming social security, which are united by the idea of ”basic security”.
“The models would reduce the delay in receiving support and would not penalize working. Basic security models would help people plan their finances in different life situations,” the politicians write.
The Greens present a basic income model in which everyone would be paid a basic part of 600 euros free of charge and regional and reason-based subsidies on top of that.
In the coalition’s model, basic security benefits would be combined into universal support, and Valtonen also proposes a so-called basic account. His originally in the model he developed everyone would have their own personal social security account, from which money can be withdrawn if necessary.
The reform of social security is being considered by a parliamentary committee, which is scheduled to complete the first draft of its interim report in October.
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