Lee Jae-myung's 'Basic Income' Expanded... Following Youth and Disaster, Farmer Basic Income Promoted

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung's 'Basic Income' is expanding comprehensively to youth, disaster, and agriculture sectors. Gyeonggi Province, as the first local government nationwide, introduced 'Youth Basic Income' (formerly Youth Dividend, providing 250,000 KRW quarterly, totaling 1,000,000 KRW to 24-year-old Gyeonggi residents) and 'Disaster Basic Income' (providing 100,000 KRW per person to all Gyeonggi residents), and now plans to expand into the 'Farmer Basic Income' area.

Furthermore, Gyeonggi Province plans to establish a legal foundation to provide basic income to all Gyeonggi residents. Basic income is an economic welfare policy that provides the same amount to all eligible recipients regardless of income or assets.

Recently, Gyeonggi Province announced a service contract for the 'Integrated Management System for Farmer and Rural Basic Income' to introduce Farmer Basic Income, which provides a fixed amount of local currency to all farmers. The total project cost related to the service contract is 420 million KRW.

The key point of the Farmer Basic Income to be introduced this time is that it will be paid to all farmers without discrimination based on the amount of property or income. Therefore, it is fundamentally different from the 'Farmer Allowance' implemented by some local governments. The Farmer Allowance is paid to farming households, but the Farmer Basic Income is paid to individual farmers.

Through this service contract, the province plans to create a comprehensive system to manage evaluation, target selection, information, and payment management for promoting Farmer Basic Income. Development of an application for mobile users will also be conducted simultaneously.

In addition, separate from Farmer Basic Income, a social experiment to introduce 'Rural Basic Income' will be promoted. Rural Basic Income involves selecting villages classified as 'rural extinction areas' and providing basic income from the province to revitalize the local economy and community.

A provincial official explained, "Once the legal foundation is finalized, we plan to prioritize the implementation of Farmer Basic Income from the second half of this year," adding, "A plan to provide 50,000 KRW per person per month, totaling 600,000 KRW annually, is under review." The farming population in the province was approximately 296,000 as of the end of 2018.

Earlier in February, the province announced the legislative notice for the 'Gyeonggi Province Farmer Basic Income Support Ordinance,' which provides the basis for paying Farmer Basic Income.

Moreover, to reduce the inconvenience of having to revise new laws every time detailed projects such as youth, disaster, and farmers are implemented, the province plans to establish a legal foundation to provide basic income to all Gyeonggi residents.

The province and the provincial council recently announced the legislative notice for the 'Gyeonggi Province Basic Income Ordinance,' which stipulates matters necessary for paying basic income to residents, guaranteeing basic rights, and revitalizing the local economy.

The ordinance includes specific provisions such as paying basic income to all residents regardless of property, income, or labor activity, and requiring the governor to establish a comprehensive plan for implementing basic income every five years.

Won Yong-hee (Democratic Party, Goyang 5), a provincial assembly member, said, "Currently, Gyeonggi Province has three ordinances related to basic income, but every time a basic income policy is promoted, the relevant ordinance providing the basis for payment has been revised through consultation with the provincial council," adding, "Therefore, the biggest feature of this ordinance is to establish clear standards so that policies can be implemented without having to revise ordinances case by case for each policy."

This ordinance will be submitted and processed at the 344th Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly extraordinary session held from the 9th to the 24th of next month.

Basic income is Governor Lee's core policy philosophy. While serving as mayor of Seongnam in 2016, Lee launched basic income policies by implementing the 'three major free welfare' policies: Youth Dividend, free school uniforms, and postpartum care. After taking office as governor, he established the Basic Income Committee and held basic income fairs and forums.

In particular, he expanded the Youth Basic Income introduced during his tenure as Seongnam mayor to the entire Gyeonggi Province, and recently introduced the Disaster Basic Income card as an economic policy to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

However, some voices express concerns about the introduction of basic income, questioning how to secure the astronomical funds required for basic income resources.

In response, Governor Lee Jae-myung stated, "Considering the scale of our economic structure and the proportion of welfare expenditure (about half of the OECD level), we can definitely create (basic income resources)," and argued, "In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where jobs are disappearing en masse, and in an era of low growth where there is more money to invest than places to invest, the only policy that can revive economic flow and guarantee sustainable growth is basic income."