It's not there yet, but everyone has been talking about it for months. Citizenship income is the flagship measure of the Movimento 5 Stelle program, certainly the most successful on an electoral level. But what is it, exactly? And how much money would it cost? The contours of the proposal are not yet the definitive ones, so it is not possible to go into details. In general terms, it is a form of income support, i.e. a sum that the State pays to those with economic difficulties. Let's take a closer look at its main features.
1) WHO IS IT FOR
Contrary to what already happens with the inclusion income (Rei), in the grillini's projects the new transfer would not only be intended for people in conditions of absolute poverty, but also for those who live in relative poverty. The audience of potential beneficiaries would thus widen from 4,7 to 9,5 million people.
2) HOW MUCH AMOUNT
The monthly amount of the check would also increase significantly. While the Rei ranges from 177 euros for singles to around 300 euros for large families (from five members upwards), the basic income would travel between 780 euros net for single people (equal to 9.360 euros a year, the minimum to survive according to Istat) and 3 euros for households with at least seven people. For families with two children, the allowance would be 1.950 euros.
3) WHAT OBLIGATIONS IT INVOLVES
According to bill number 1148 – text deposited in the Senate on 29 October 2013 – in order to be entitled to the allowance, a series of obligations must be met: follow a training course, enroll in employment centres, hold interviews, be available to perform 8 hours of service a week to the local community. And above all, don't be picky, because the third job offer rejected, you lose your check.
4) HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO THE STATE
Costs are the real unknown factor of basic income. According to the calculations of the M5S, also dating back to 2013, the measure would cost the public coffers 15,5 billion (to which, according to Luigi Di Maio, another two should be added to reform the employment centers). Roberto Perotti, full professor of political economy at the Bocconi University in Milan and former adviser to the Renzi government for the spending review, believes instead that the final bill would be roughly double: 29 billion euros.
Two years ago, as a guest of the Festival of Economics in Trento, the governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, said that "a universal minimum income of 500 euros per citizen for 12 months is worth 20 per cent of GDP: it is not possible think, so it's not the answer financially”.
5) COVERS FROM CUTS
The project of the Movimento 5 Stelle plans to find coverage by intervening on 25 items of expenditure. In particular, the grillini calculate that they can save around 5 billion by working on Consip purchases. Another 2,5 billion would come from cuts in military spending, to which 900 million would be added as a result of the reduction in the percentage of deductibility of interest expense for banks and insurance companies, 800 million from the elimination of blue car hospitals and 700 million from the ax on pensions golden.
