Taxes Tax limitation system: Broulis not afraid of criminal investigation
Former Vaud finance minister Pascal Broulis is relaxed about the criminal investigation opened by the Vaud public prosecutor into the tax limitation system. According to a report, its application between 2009 and 2021 did not comply with the law.
22.02.2026, 02:26
SDA
"I did not interfere in any way with the application of the tax deduction. I did not exert any influence on tax dossiers," explained the former finance director of the canton of Vaud (2002-2022) in an interview published by "Le Matin Dimanche". "I would like to see complete clarity."
The tax capping system has been the subject of debate in the canton of Vaud for months. This regulation, which is intended to limit the tax burden for the particularly wealthy, came into force in 2009. However, from its introduction until a reform in 2021, it was applied incorrectly, resulting in some taxpayers paying too little tax, according to François Paychère, an independent expert mandated by the State Council in August 2025.
The report does not contain any information on possible tax losses or actual responsibilities. However, it states that employees of the cantonal tax administration had already noticed the incorrect application in 2011 and again in 2015 and had pointed this out to their superiors. However, this information did not reach the then Finance Minister Pascal Broulis.
Not informed
In "Le Matin Dimanche", Broulis again emphasized that the tax cap had been applied "exactly" as it had been decided by parliament in 2008 and approved by the people in 2009. There had been no "gifts" to taxpayers.
He had not been informed in 2011 and 2015 "because there was no problem". Without complaints in court, "the dossier remains entirely the responsibility of the administration", said the FDP politician. "Interfering would mean intervening in the assessment, which is subject to tax secrecy."
When he intervened in 2015, it was about "a precise point" that had been reported to him: in certain cases, the tax limitation system had enabled individual taxpayers to avoid some or all of their tax - particularly in the case of purchases into the pension fund or very extensive renovation work. "Only this and nothing else was reported to me, and later also to the State Council," he says. He then proposed a minimum tax of three per thousand, which was introduced in 2017.
"The tax limitation system must not be an instrument for tax optimization," explained the current member of the Council of States. "The problem with the application of the mechanism was only discovered later."
