Five years after the historic vote in Switzerland in 2016 on the introduction of an unconditional basic income, an independent committee launched a second popular initiative on 21 September 2021. The aim of the initiative, entitled “Living in dignity - For an unconditional, financeable basic income”, is to guarantee a means of subsistence for all people living in Switzerland, to realize the basic human right to lead a dignified and self-determined life, and to enable everyone to benefit fairly from the achievements of the national economy.

The new initiative essentially reproduces the legislative text of the first initiative, but in order to take into account the questions and objections that arose during the campaign for the vote in 2016, the initiators have added provisions for the preservation and even the development of social insurance. In addition, this initiative defines in much greater detail the possible mechanisms for financing the UBI, targeting primarily the financial and technology sector. To this end, the initiative includes transitional provisions requiring the federal government and the National Bank to compile precise statistics on corporate income and profits, as well as on cashless payment transactions.

The campaign to collect signatures for the initiative has already begun. Anyone who wishes to sign the initiative or encourage others to sign it can print out the form in reply-card format and return it free of charge by putting it in a letterbox. Those who wish to be more active in collecting signatures can print out the form in A4 format or order the desired number of pre-printed sheets from us. Please note that separate sheet of paper must be used for each political commune, that each signatory must be a Swiss citizen, at least 18 years of age, and that he or she must fill in all the boxes in clear, unbroken letters, without using ditto marks even if he or she lives at the same address as the previous signatory.

Website of federal popular initiative II