Taxes National Council approves bill for individual taxation

Every person in Switzerland should submit their own tax return and pay their own taxes, regardless of their marital status. On Wednesday, the National Council approved the counter-proposal to the tax justice initiative by a narrow majority.

It decided by 98 votes to 93 with one abstention. The SP, FDP, Greens and GLP voted in favor of the proposal. The SVP and the Center Party voted against. The law on individual taxation is the indirect counter-proposal to the tax justice initiative. The Council will only decide on its position after the parliamentary deliberations on the bill on individual taxation have been completed.

The Council rejected minority motions from the red-green coalition to ensure that revenue from direct federal tax does not fall by CHF 1 billion as a result of individual taxation, as expected by the Federal Council. The Council also said no to the SP's idea of including non-family childcare in the bill.

The SVP, on the other hand, wanted to retain marriage as an economic community and proposed a full and a partial splitting model in two minority motions. Both motions were rejected despite the support of the Center Party.

The Center Party submitted its own popular initiative for the abolition of the marriage penalty. Their proposal to leave the entry into force of the bill to the Federal Council instead of giving the cantons a transitional period of six years for implementation was rejected by 99 votes to 94 with 5 abstentions.

The bill will now go to the Council of States.