The Finnish government is currently drawing up plans to introduce a national basic income. A final proposal won’t be presented until November 2016, but if all goes to schedule, Finland will scrap all existing benefits and instead hand out €800 ($870) per month—to everyone.
芬兰政府目前正在计划推出一项国家基本收入计划。该计划最早可能从2016年11月开始实施，如果一切顺利的话，芬兰将取消现有的一切福利制度，每月发800欧元（870美元）给公民。
It sounds far-fetched, but it’s looking likely that Finland will carry through with the idea. Whereas several Dutch cities will introduce basic income next year and Switzerland is holding a referendum on the subject, there is strongest political and public support for the idea in Finland.
这听起来就像是天方夜谭，但芬兰似乎想要实现这一计划。而荷兰的几个城市将在明年实施基本收入计划，瑞士正对这一问题举行全民投票，因此芬兰实现这一计划有强大的政治和公共的支持。
A poll commissioned by the government agency planning the proposal, the Finnish Social Insurance Institution or KELA, showed that 69% support (link in Finnish) a basic income plan. Prime minister Juha Sipilä is in favor of the idea and he’s backed by most of the major political parties. “For me, a basic income means simplifying the social security system,” he says.
制定该计划的政府机构——芬兰社会保险机构委托的一项民意调查显示，69％的民众支持基本收入计划。芬兰总理Juha Sipilä支持这一计划，他得到了多数主要党派的支持。他说：“对我而言，基本收入计划意味着社会保障体系简化。”
But for those outside Finland, the plan raises two obvious questions: Why is this a good idea, and how will it work?
但对局外人来说，这项计划引发两个明显的问题：这为什么是一个好主意，它怎么实施呢？
It may sound counterintuitive, but the proposal is meant to tackle unemployment. Finland’s unemployment rate is at a 15-year high, at 9.53% and a basic income would allow people to take on low-paying jobs without personal cost. At the moment, a temporary job results in lower welfare benefits, which can lead to an overall drop in income.
该提案旨在解决失业问题，虽然这听起来可能有点违反直觉。芬兰的失业率创15年来新高，达到9.53%。基本收入可以让人们接受底薪工作。而现在，一份临时工作将导致低福利待遇，从而收入全面下降。
Previous experiments have shown that universal basic income can have a positive effect. Everyone in the Canadian town of Dauphin was given a stipend from 1974 to 1979, and though there was a drop in working hours, this was mainly because men spent more time in school and women took longer maternity leaves. Meanwhile, when thousands of unemployed people in Uganda were given unsupervised grants of twice their monthly income, working hours increased by 17% and earnings increased by 38%.
先前的实验表明，全民基本收入起到了积极的效果。从1974年到1979年，加拿大王储镇的每位公民都有津贴，尽管工作时间减少了，但这是因为男性花费更 多时间在学校学习，而妇女需要更长的产假。与此同时，乌干达成千上万的失业者每月有两次无人监督的赠款，工作时间增加了17%，收入增长38%。
One of the major downsides, of course, is the cost of handing out money to so many people. Liisa Hyssälä, director general of KELA, has said that the plan will save the government millions. But, as Bloomberg calculated, giving €800 of basic income to the population of 5.4 million every month would cost €52.2 billion a year. Finland only plans to give the basic income to adults, not every citizen, but with around 4.9 million adults in Finland, this would still cost €46.7 billion per year. The government expects to have €49.1 billion in revenue in 2016.
当然，一大缺点是要花费很多钱。芬兰社会保险机构局长Liisa Hyssälä说该计划将为政府节省上百万欧元。但根据彭博社估算，给540万人口每人每月800欧元，一年要花费522亿欧元。芬兰只计划给成年公民， 不是每一位公民，那么芬兰有大约490万成年人，每年仍将花费467亿欧元。2016年芬兰政府预计的收入是491亿欧元。
Another serious consideration is that some people may be worse off under the plan. As the proposal hasn’t been published yet, it’s not yet known exactly who will lose out. But those who currently receive housing support or disability benefits could conceivably end up with less under national basic income, since the plan calls for scrapping existing benefits. And as national basic income would only give a monthly allowance to adults, a single mother of three could struggle to support herself compared to, for example, a neighbor with the same government support but no children and a part-time job.
另一个很重要的问题是，有一些人可能会因为该计划变得更糟糕。目前该计划还没有发布，所以还不能准确的知道谁会吃亏。但目前对那些仍接受住房保障和伤残津 贴的人来说，他们的钱会比国家基本收入还要少，因为该计划是建立在废除现有福利的基础上。另外国家基本收入只会给成年人每月津贴，那么举例来说，一位有三 个孩子的单身妈妈将会比邻居没有孩子却又有兼职工作的人要生活更艰难。
Finally, the proposal raises the question of whether it’s really fair to give a relatively better off individual the same amount of welfare as someone who’s truly struggling. Finland’s constitution insists that all citizens must be equal, though, of course, equality can be interpreted in many different ways. So far, there’s no definitive answer as to whether national basic income will create a more or less equal society.
最后，该提案引发了给每个个体同样的福利待遇是否真的公平这一问题，因为有一些人确实生活的很艰难。尽管芬兰宪法坚持认为所有公民必须平等，但平等可以从许多不同方面来解释。目前为止，对于国家基本收入计划能否建立一个更平等的社会，我们还没有明确的答案。
Vocabulary
counterintuitive: 违反直觉的