Arnold Waeber

Arnold Waeber

Arnold Waeber (born January 27, 1923 in Mariahilf, municipality of Düdingen , † May 8, 1988 in Tafers ) was a Swiss politician ( CVP ) and State Councilor of the canton of Friborg .

Live and act

Waeber, a Catholic by birth, comes from Schmitten and Freiburg. His parents were Albin Waeber, municipal administrator, and Adèle nee. Riedo. In 1951 he married Maria Stritt.

After attending primary school and secondary school in Tafers, Arnold Waeber switched to the St. Michael College of Commerce , from which he graduated with the Matura , to study political science . In his doctoral thesis (1947) he dealt with German trade policy from 1929 to 1939. In 1947 he became tax inspector, then secretary of the cantonal tax appeals committee and in 1956 head of the cantonal tax administration. From 1957 to 1966 he was senior bailiff for the Sense District . Elected to the State Council in 1966 , he was Head of Finance until 1981. He presented the major lines of government policy and the financial plan to parliament (1967, 1972, 1978).

In 1972 he presented a total revision of the law on cantonal taxes, which was subsequently revised several times, particularly in 1980. This law made changes to the taxation of married women, lowered taxes on small incomes and increased social allowances. He introduced a minimum tax and renewed the taxation of holding and domiciliary companies . As Arnold Waeber emphasized, "a tax law must provide the state and municipalities with the means they need to carry out their tasks and cover their expenses" (June 13, 1972). On May 20, 1980, with a quote from the Roman Emperor Tiberius about taxpayers, he declared that “a good shepherd shears his sheep but does not skin them”. He presented a law on the official value of land, which was rejected by the people in 1975. In the same year the Law on the Status of State Employees and the Law on the Pension Fund of State Employees were passed. He also passed a law on registration fees in 1979. Several times he justified the increase in the endowment capital of the Freiburg State Bank.

Arnold Waeber had to cope with a difficult environment that was marked by a high level of debt: The debt rose from 400 million in the 1960s to 730 million in 1981. The expenses, which amounted to about 200 million when he took office, increased until End of his mandate to around 700 million. In 1972 and 1978 he was President of the State Council.

Faced with the tax office affair in 1971, he was violently attacked by the SP and the UCSP. Although a commission of experts exonerated the head of service Hubert Seydoux, Arnold Waeber reorganized this service. A budget control system was introduced on his initiative. A tax amnesty took place under his direction in 1969. At the finance directors conference people liked to listen to their voice.

Arnold Waeber headed the Freiburger Staatsbank (today the Freiburger Kantonalbank) and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss National Bank .

His candidacy for the 1979 elections to the Council of States ended in defeat, as Otto Piller (SP) and Pierre Dreyer (CVP) took the two seats. He sportily congratulated his party colleague and wished him the best of luck in the exercise of his mandate. When he left the government, Grand Council President Édouard Gremaud declared in his laudatory speech that Arnold Waeber “was depressed for a moment, but always remained upright”. In his answer, the departing Friedrich Rückert quoted : "Surrender to the times, fill your place and confidently vacate it, there is no shortage of substitutes."

After his resignation, he was a member of a number of boards of directors: Ateliers de constructions mécaniques de Vevey , Liebherr in Bulle, Freiburger Nachrichten, Régie de Friborg and Freiburgische Elektrizitätswerke.

His end is tragic: He died of a heart attack in a car accident between Tafers and Mariahilf when he apparently wanted to see his doctor. His funeral took place in Tafers in the presence of Monseigneur Pierre Mamie , Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Friborg.

Of stocky build, Arnold Waeber was an excellent hunter and liked to be in nature. He loved German literature and admired the Prussian state . Full of humor, he knew how to tell countless jokes. He was the perfect embodiment of the Sensler Spirit. He knew how to raise the level of discussion and forbade abuses against the government. He protested against the use of the expression "machin" by a former President of the Grand Council, who had used this word to refer to the Council of State (meeting on November 3, 1981).

literature

• Georges Andrey , Hubertus von Gemmingen (translation): The Freiburg State Council: 1848–2011; History, organization, members . Ed .: John Clerc, Jean-Pierre Dorand, Nicholas Gex. Paulus, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-7228-0815-4 .
• Eveline Seewer Bourgeois: Waeber, Arnold. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .