Abolition of the marriage penalty Council of States decides today on the introduction of individual taxation

This Tuesday, the Council of States will decide whether every person in Switzerland should be taxed individually in future, regardless of marital status. The small chamber is dealing with the law on individual taxation. The decision is likely to be close.

Keystone-SDA

04.03.2025, 04:54

SDA

This is because the Council of States' Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (WAK-S) approved the bill by a wafer-thin majority, with one abstention and the casting vote of its President Hans Wicki (FDP/NW). The National Council approved the law in September 2024 as the first chamber, with a narrow majority.

Minority does not want to enter

In the Council of States, a strong minority does not want to support the bill, which was criticized during the consultation process. If the Council of States follows this minority, it would be the National Council's turn again. The proposal would only fail if the Council of States were to vote against it for a second time, and the FDP Women's Tax Fairness Initiative would then be put to the ballot box without a counter-proposal.

The FDP Women submitted their request despite the Federal Council's work on the law in order to keep up the pressure for the introduction of individual taxation regardless of marital status. Parliament will only decide on the slogan for the initiative after deliberations on the draft law.

Currently, married couples and same-sex couples living in a registered partnership are taxed jointly. If both partners are gainfully employed, they sometimes have to pay higher taxes than cohabiting couples with separate assessments due to progression.

Consideration for unequal incomes

The majority in favor of the WAK-S wants to make some changes to the law on individual taxation and thus take more account of married couples with very unequal incomes. It is calling for the possibility of transferring child-related deductions from one parent to the other.

The Federal Council estimates that with individual taxation, the Confederation and cantons will receive around one billion francs less from federal tax each year. In order to limit the loss, the WAK majority wants to increase the child deductions less than the Federal Council and National Council, namely to CHF 10,700 instead of CHF 12,000.

In addition, the WAK-S wants married couples to be assessed separately but still submit a joint tax return. This would make it administratively easier for married parents to transfer child-related deductions.