¶ Citizens' Dividend and AI Citizens' Fund

The idea of an unconditional basic income sounds like socialism -- the state taxes, the state distributes, the citizen receives. This reflex is understandable, but it overlooks a crucial alternative: Switzerland does not need a redistribution machine. It needs a model that suits the country -- decentralised, cooperative, self-reliant.

The answer is not a state transfer. The answer is a citizens' dividend.

¶ The Liberal Tradition

The idea is neither new nor left-wing.

¶ Milton Friedman (1962)

The Nobel laureate and father of monetarism proposed the negative income tax: anyone below a threshold income not only pays no taxes but receives a payment from the state. No means testing, no bureaucracy, no social worker. Friedman did not want to expand the welfare state but to abolish it -- and replace it with a simpler, market-compatible system [1].

¶ Friedrich Hayek

The other great liberal of the 20th century endorsed a basic income for the same reason: it creates freedom from the state, not dependence. A minimal safety net that requires no bureaucracy and imposes no behavioural conditions [2].

¶ Alaska: Proof That It Works

Alaska -- one of the most conservative US states, deep-red Republican -- has operated the Alaska Permanent Fund since 1982. The oil industry pays licence fees into a sovereign fund that today manages over 80 billion dollars. Every resident of Alaska receives an annual dividend -- in 2022 it was 3,284 dollars per person [3].

No politician has ever seriously proposed abolishing the fund. It was established by a Republican governor and is the most popular programme in the state. It is not social welfare. It is co-ownership of the nation's value creation.

¶ Norway: Collective Wealth Building

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global -- the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world with over 1.7 trillion dollars -- is fed by oil and gas revenues and belongs to the Norwegian people [4]. It invests globally in equities, bonds and real estate. Norway is not socialist. It is one of the most competitive countries in the world, with a thriving private sector. The fund is not an instrument of redistribution but of collective wealth building.

¶ The Swiss Cooperative Tradition

Switzerland has something that neither Alaska nor Norway possesses in this form: a vibrant cooperative tradition.

Migros: Founded by Gottlieb Duttweiler. Pays no dividends to shareholders but invests in lower prices and the culture percentage for the public [5].
Raiffeisen: The third-largest banking group in Switzerland, organised as a cooperative.
Coop, Mobiliar: Some of Switzerland's most successful companies are cooperatives.

Their logic is neither socialist nor capitalist in the Anglo-Saxon sense. It is quintessentially Swiss: shared ownership, decentralised control, individual responsibility.

¶ The Swiss AI Citizens' Fund

A Swiss AI citizens' fund would be the logical continuation of this tradition:

Funding: An AI value creation levy -- companies that replace human labour with AI pay a levy equivalent to the saved wage-related social contributions.
Fund: The levy does not flow into an anonymous tax pool but into a national fund based on the cooperative principle. The fund invests in AI infrastructure, data centres, patents, stakes in Swiss AI companies.
Dividend: Every Swiss citizen is a stakeholder. The return on the fund determines the amount of the dividend -- not a politician, not a parliament, not a government.
Independence: The fund management is independent, modelled on the Swiss National Bank (SNB), which is deliberately removed from day-to-day politics [6].
Federalism: Payments are made through the cantons. Changes to the levy or the fund statutes are subject to referendum.

¶ The Crucial Difference

A social transfer redistributes income -- from top to bottom. A citizens' dividend distributes ownership -- everyone holds a stake in the nation's productive capital. The former creates dependence. The latter creates participation.

¶ Three Phases of Transition

Phase	Period	Description
1	2028--2035	Citizens' dividend as a supplement alongside OASI (~CHF 500/month)
2	2035--2045	Rising dividend integrates OASI pension (CHF 2,500/month)
3	From 2045	Full replacement of OASI, DI, social assistance by universal dividend

¶ The Evidence: UBI Does Not Make People Lazy

Finland (2017--2018): Recipients were happier, healthier and just as likely to be employed as the control group [7].
Stockton, California (2019--2021): Full-time employment rose from 28 to 40 per cent. The money gave people the security to take risks [8].

It is telling that precisely those who are driving automation -- Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Bill Gates -- are the loudest advocates for a UBI. They are not social romantics. They know the numbers.

¶ Conclusion

This model is the opposite of socialism. It takes control over distribution away from the state and gives it to citizens -- as owners, not supplicants. It combines the fiscal necessity of a citizens' dividend with the political culture of Switzerland.