The demand for an unconditional basic income for Germany has been presented in various forms in the past. Representatives of this idea can be found in a political spectrum that ranges from the FDP (citizen allowance) to the Left Party.PDS (network basic income).
Götz Werner proposes a gradual introduction of an unconditional basic income. This should initially be in the amount of 200 to 400 euros and rise to 1300 to 1500 euros within a period of 15 to 20 years. All German citizens should receive this amount without further conditions. In some interviews/texts, Werner suggests staggering the amounts depending on age. Children and pensioners would then receive less than people of working age. At the same time, the labor market should be largely free from regulatory provisions. In his remarks, Götz Werner represents two central building blocks for the financing of an unconditional basic income: First, all existing social transfers are to be replaced by the basic income in the long term. Second, a central element of the financing ideas is the conversion of the existing tax, contribution, and levy system from a mixed form of different tax and contribution types to pure consumption taxation via consumption taxes.
The idea of an unconditional basic income in the variant of the initiative ‹Unternimm die Zukunft› (Take on the future) by Götz Werner, Scientific Service of the German Bundestag 2006.
Graphic: Sofia Lismont
