Will basic income ever become a reality in Hungary?

Dialogue Hungary’s recently published paper is a detailed scheme for providing a basic income for everyone from children to pensioners, and it would cost around EUR 9.5 billion for the Hungarian government.

The discussion paper by Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd Magyarországért) and the party’s Progressive Hungary Foundation, entitled Basic income 2021: Toward safety, was presented on 7 October, the World Day for Decent Work.

The paper presents a scheme for basic income in Hungary, an especially timely programme now as “tens of thousands of people lose their job or get reduced salaries due to the coronavirus pandemic”, writes 24.

In short, the paper suggests a basic income of EUR 140 (HUF 50,000) per month for children, EUR 420 for pregnant women, at least EUR 700 for workers, and EUR 280 for inactive adults.

Inactive adults include students, pensioners, job seekers, and recipients of other forms of allowance. Workers are further categorised based on their salary: for those with a salary below gross EUR 280, the basic income should be EUR 280, the experts say.

In the case of salaries between EUR 140 and EUR 560, the basic income would be calculated with the following formula: EUR 140 + (560 – gross salary) / 2. For salaries above EUR 560, the formula is (EUR 1,430 – gross salary) / 5.

The authors argue that the introduction of basic income, other than providing citizens with the necessary amount to meet their basic needs, would improve workers’ bargaining power which, through a spiral effect, could further increase average earnings.