The Senate approved today (9) the transformation of basic income into a social right, provided for by the Constitution. The Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) 29/2020 guarantees a minimum income, owed by the State, to every citizen in a vulnerable situation. The PEC goes to the Chamber.
According to the text approved on Tuesday, the basic income will be regulated by ordinary law, including the requirements for accessing the benefit. However, she suggests that this payment can be instituted in stages, prioritizing citizens with insufficient income.
The proposal even excluded state expenditures on basic income from the public spending ceiling rules, but the suggestion ended up withdrawing from the final version. The spending cap is the fiscal regime that states that public spending can only grow up to the limit of the previous year’s inflation. The rapporteur, Antonio Anastasia (PSD-MG), decided to withdraw the excerpt as it is a “complex topic” that is already under discussion in Congress.
For Anastasia, the basic income provided for by the Constitution is no longer a government program, subject to extinction, to become a benefit on the same level as unemployment insurance and pensions.
“It is a gain in legitimacy for a portion of the population that is often seen by some not as beneficiaries of public policy, but as recipients of a favor. The constitutionalization of basic income also allows these transfers of income to be a perennial policy, a State policy, which could not be revoked by any government”.
