[pp.int.general] Pensions - the 'canadian system'

[Zbigniew Łukasiak]

In Poland one of the other parties proposes a system where everyone
pays the same fee and then gets the same pension - they call it 'the
Canadian system' (any Canadians to comment on that?) .  In a way this
looks very similar to Basic Income and I have similar arguments for
it.  When we have BI then all this would not be needed - but maybe we
can adopt this as a kind of intermediate goal?

The state should deliver universal benefits - that are the same for
every citizen - wherever we want diversification we can let private
companies do that - they are pretty good at that.

I can see two arguments for having the state force citizens to pay
pension contributions (be it really called pension contribution or be
it just a part of other taxes):

- the rational argument is that if we don't force people to save for
retirement then they will not save and the state will have to take
care of them anyway (because of humanitarian reasons or because
otherwise they would steal and stuff) - in that case the state does
not need to pay pensions above the social minimum - i.e. the same for
everyone

- the humanitarian/solidarity argument is also better met by a system
that delivers the same benefits to everyone then by one that
discriminates

Of course the obligatory contributions should not be (much) higher
then what is needed to meet the social minimum in pensions.  All the
rest of the salaries people could save in private funds.  I believe
that this private part of the pensions funds would be the most
efficient one - market is pretty good at that - but on the the other
it can not be the only part of the solution.  There are many pensions
schemas that mix the state and the private parts - and this is
probably the worst of all - we need to do both but demarcated in a
clear way.


-- 
Zbigniew Lukasiak
http://brudnopis.blogspot.com/
http://perlalchemy.blogspot.com/