Swiss village crowdfunds to launch basic income experiment

Vineyards in Rheinau, Switzerland. Photo / 123RF

A village in Switzerland plans to pay residents more than US$2500 a month for doing nothing as an experiment into an unconditional basic income.

Rheinau, on the Rhine river at the border with Germany, hopes to pay participants up to 2500 Swiss francs ($3930) a month to ensure they have a guaranteed income whether they work or not.

The village council decided to go ahead with the scheme after more than half of Rheinau's 1300 inhabitants signed up to take part.

The experiment comes after Switzerland overwhelmingly rejected proposals for a nationwide basic income in a referendum two years ago.

The village plans to raise the necessary money through crowdfunding.

The project is the brainchild of Rebecca Panian, a Swiss film-maker who says she was inspired by the rejected national scheme. "Given the social and economic changes around the world, it seemed sensible at least to test an idea for a new future before dismissing it as nonsense," she says on the scheme's website.

Under the scheme, participants will receive a basic monthly income based on their age, ranging from 625 Swiss francs for under-18s to 2500 francs for those aged over 25.

But any money they earn from work or receive from pensions or benefits during the month will be offset against the payment - meaning it guarantees a minimum income rather than supplementing other earnings.