中英对照：为什么每周$500元的全面基本收入会让人失去上班的动力？

 

 

 

 

前安大略省(自由党)政府于2016年启动“基本收入”试点项目时，参加试点的单身每年可获得16,989元（如当年有其他收入，其中的50％会从基本收入中扣除）。参与试点的夫妇最多可获得$ 24,027元的收入（如当年有其他收入，其中的50％会从基本收入中扣除）。残疾人每年获得额外的$ 6,000元。

 

When the Ontario provincial (Liberal) government started a pilot project in 2016 on “Basic Income”, single people in the pilot received $16,989 per year (less 50 percent of any earned income). Couples involved in the pilot received up to $24,027 (also less 50 percent of any earned income). People with disabilities were given an additional $6,000 per year.

 

作为CERB和EI的延续项目，许多人现在期望渥太华实施每人每月发2,000元，税前的年收入24,000元的UBI。目前尚不清楚渥太华是否要将这一福利项目取代目前实行的其他收入补贴，如福利房补贴，幼儿园和药品补贴等。许多人怀疑全面基本收入不会取代这些福利。

 

As a continuation program to follow the CERB and EI, many now expect the Federally sponsored UBI to come in at $2,000 every month or $24,000 a year before taxes. Whether this will replace some of the current support programs such as affordable housing, childcare and pharmacare (to name a few) is unclear at this moment. Many suspect that it will not replace all of them.

 

安省自由党政府的基本收入试点项目因为被上台后的保守党政府提早砍掉，造成试点不足以收集足够的数据和总结试点的效果。曼尼托巴省上世纪70年代的基本收入试点项目发现，人们回去工作的愿望在没拿和拿基本收入后没有多大变化。但有两个例外：刚生过孩子的母亲会在家里呆更长时间来照顾孩子；那些原本不得不辍学以帮助家里挣钱的年轻人会继续呆在学校学习。当年的试点还发现，参加试点的人去医院就诊次数减少了约10％。支持基本收入的人说，基本收入让司法系统和监狱省钱，因为许多穷人会沦落为罪犯。反对基本收入的人则说，70年代的试点已经过时，因为过去40年来社会发生了重大变化。

 

The Ontario Basic Income Pilot program did not last long enough to produce any statistics and visible effects of the program. Although done in the 1970's, the Manitoba pilot program found that workforce participation continued as usual with two exceptions: new mothers stayed at home longer to care for children, and young people who would have had to quit school to help support their families stayed in school longer. The pilot project also reported some 10 percent fewer hospital visits by participants. Advocates say a basic income can also contribute to substantial cost savings in the justice system and the prison pipeline, where many economically disadvantaged ends up. Opponents to the Basic Income program claim that the results obtained back in the 1970's are not applicable today since society has undergone significant changes over the last 40 years.

 

联邦自由党政府为什么现在要引入全面基本收入项目（UBI）呢？ 新冠肺炎疫情暴露了加拿大许多不平等的问题，包括我们的社会福利系统中的漏洞。比如，女性受疫情的影响最严重。当CERB和EI都结束后，UBI就是替代品。当人们习惯于每周领取$500元而不用工作时，许多人就没有上班的动力。

 

Why does the Federal Liberal government want to introduce the UBI now? The COVID 19 pandemic exposed the inequities of many of our systems, including the holes in our social safety net and women are taking some of the hardest hit due to those inadequacies. The UBI is a substitution of the CERB and EI once both are exhausted. When people are getting used to collecting the $500 a week staying home, many do not have the motivation to go to work.

 

获得选民支持与尽快实施UBI息息相关。我在上一篇文章中指出，目前的EI非常慷慨，从现在起你至少可以再拿26周。UBI是诱饵，这样，一旦大选，联邦自由党可以再次成为多数执政党，并确保实施UBI。

 

Votes also have plenty to do with the urgency to implement the UBI. The generous EI payments mentioned in my last article will be finishing after another 26 weeks from now and UBI will be dangled in front of voters to secure a majority mandate for the Liberals as a condition for their implementation.

 

我琢磨了一下具体的数字。 发现每月发2,000元UBI的这个数字不是拍脑袋得出的。目前，安大略省的最低工资为每小时14.25元，每周工作40小时会有570元的收入。上班族上班花在公交上的钱大概为每天$ 6- $ 10元。也就是说，扣除交通费后落在那些上班族手中与待在家里白拿钱的差别仅为每周20元。为此，你会急着上班吗？我听到许多雇主的抱怨，在过去的几个月中，由于雇员拒绝回去上班，他们很难重新开业。他们宁愿拿CERB而呆在家中。

 

I was looking at some simple figures. UBI is going to be centred around the magical figure of $2,000 per month. Minimum wages in Ontario is currently pegged at $14.25 an hour and a 40 hour work week will bring in $570 a week. Travelling to work will cost a minimum of $6-$10 a day on public transit. Therefore, the difference is just another $20 a week to stay home. I heard many stories from employers lamenting the difficulty to re-open their businesses over the last few months when their employees refuse to come back to work – they would rather collect CERB and stay at home.

 

从管理的角度来看，UBI比其他社会福利要更容易打理。它几乎不需要或根本不需要像申请安省工作和残疾收入补贴一类的福利那样，政府要审核申请人是否有资格领取。加拿大弗雷泽经济研究所指出，UBI的成本太高，如果实施UBI，必须消减其他社会福利。

 

UBI is easier to deal with than other social supports from an administration standpoint. It requires little or no monitoring of recipients like Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), which have eligibility conditions. Fraser Institute has a different take - it argues that UBI would cost too much; and that any UBI program would have to mean the scaling back of other social programs.

 

弗雷泽经济研究所称，全民基本收入计划每年将耗费渥太华1,310亿至4,640亿元。如果联邦政府的全面基本收入只发给那些现在拿老人金的人，渥太华得拿出1,310亿。如果联邦政府要给那些有资格每月拿$2000元CERB的发UBI的话，渥太华则要拿出4,640亿元。国会预算办公室的估计的UBI数字则较低。他们估计实施全面基本收入每年将花费约1800亿加元。问题是，你如果看看他们过去几年严重低估了渥太华赤字的记录，你会相信谁呢？

 

Fraser Institute claimed that a basic income program would cost between $131 billion and $464 billion annually. The first number would apply if the feds extended a universal basic income to only seniors on Old Age Security. The second would apply if the feds provided a $2,000 benefit similar to CERB to all eligible Canadians. The numbers provided by the Parliamentary budget office are different. They estimate a guaranteed basic income for eligible Canadians would cost around $180 billion a year. Given their history of grossly under-estimating the deficit of this country over the last few years, who would you rather believe?

 

目前，加拿大的政府赤字太大了。这些债务要转嫁给我们的后代偿还。许多人认为加拿大正在成为实行社会主义的福利国家。加拿大负担不起全面基本收入（UBI）。加拿大人可能会在未来6到8个月内举行的下一次联邦选举中决定UBI的命运！

 

Canada has taken on too big a deficit at this moment. This debt will have to be repaid by our future generations. Many citizens feel that Canada is turning into a socialist welfare state and that Canada cannot afford the UBI. Canadians will likely have to make a decision in the next Federal Election now projected to happen within the next 6 to 8 months!