Federal popular initiative "Ending tax privileges for millionaires (abolition of flat-rate taxation)"

Group picture of the initiators when submitting the initiative

The federal popular initiative "Ending tax privileges for millionaires (abolition of flat-rate taxation)" was a Swiss popular initiative of the Alternative Left party . The initiative called for the abolition of flat-rate taxation . The Federal Council and Parliament recommended the initiative to be rejected. The initiative was rejected by the sovereign on November 30, 2014 with 59.2 percent no votes and 1 to 19 6/2 stands . The turnout was 49.2 percent.

Initiative text

I
The Federal Constitution is amended as follows:

Art. 127 para. 2 ^bis (new)
^2bis Tax privileges for natural persons are not permitted. Taxation based on expenditure is prohibited.

II
The transitional provisions of the Federal Constitution are changed as follows:

Art. 197 no. 9 ² (new)
9. Transitional provision to Art. 127 Paragraph 2 ^bis (Principles of Taxation)
¹ Within three years of the adoption of Article 127 Paragraph 2 ^bis, the Confederation shall issue the implementing legislation.
² If no implementing law is enacted within this period, Article 127 paragraph 2 ^bis shall apply directly.

Opinions

The Alternative Left , the Social Democratic Party , the Green Party , the Evangelical People's Party , the Pirate Party , the Swiss Democrats , Travail.Suisse , the Unia trade union and the Swiss Confederation of Trade Unions supported the initiative. They argued that the flat tax was undemocratic because it broke with the principle of taxation based on economic efficiency and therefore represented an unfair tax privilege. The flat tax also acts as a price driver on the real estate market. Also, in the event of abolition at federal level, flat-rate taxees could not simply change cantons in the future. The proponents also cite the positive experiences in the cantons, which have so far abolished the flat-rate tax.

The Christian Democratic People's Party , the FDP, were against the initiative . The Liberals , the Swiss People's Party , the Bourgeois Democratic Party , the Green Liberal Party , the Lega dei Ticinesi , the Conference of Finance Directors , the Swiss Trade Association and economiesuisse . They argued that the initiative was an interference with the tax autonomy of the cantons. Flat-rate taxpayers would also pay taxes amounting to one billion francs, secure 22,000 jobs and support charitable projects amounting to 740 million francs annually.

Campaign Budgets

The two campaigns were run with financially different budgets. While the initiative committee voted with a tight budget of CHF 170,000 , the counter committee was able to fall back on the help of business associations and communities and, according to the initiators, had a budget around 20 times larger than the yes campaign.

The no campaign was co-financed by public tax money from various mountain communities, according to research by the Sonntagszeitung newspaper , a total of CHF 270,000 was collected in this way by November 1, 2014, of which CHF 50,000 each came from the communities of St. Moritz and Saanen . At the time, this was almost double the campaign budget of the Initiative Committee. The support of the municipalities was in a legal gray area insofar as the assumption of an active role or the financing of political campaigns and demonstrations is forbidden for the municipalities according to a federal court decision.

Representative polls before voting

According to a representative survey by the research institute gfs.bern , 48% of those questioned answered with “Yes” or “More or less yes” six weeks before the vote, while 36% of those asked answered “No” or “More or less no”. At 16% of those surveyed, according to gfs.bern, the proportion of undecided was relatively high. Two weeks before the vote, 42% of the respondents answered with "Yes" or "Rather yes", while 46% of the respondents answered "No" or "Rather no". 12% of the respondents were undecided.

poll

The initiative was rejected on November 30, 2014 by 59.2 percent of the voters and by 25 of the 26 cantons. Only the canton of Schaffhausen accepted the initiative. It got the most no votes in the canton of Valais , where only 21.7 percent of the voters supported the initiative.

Yes (1 stand)

No (19 ⁶ / ₂ Scores)

Abolition of flat-rate taxation - preliminary official final results

Canton	Yes (%)	No (%)	Participation (%)
Zurich	49.1	50.9	53.7
Bern	43.9	56.1	47.2
Lucerne	42.9	57.1	50.1
Uri	38.4	61.6	41.0
Schwyz	36.0	64.0	51.7
Obwalden	33.4	66.6	49.5
Nidwalden	30.9	69.1	50.6
Glarus	41.5	58.8	40.8
train	32.6	67.4	55.9
Freiburg	36.0	64.0	47.6
Solothurn	46.2	53.8	47.3
Basel city	45.1	54.9	54.5
Basel-Country	46.0	54.0	50.3
Schaffhausen	50.8	49.2	67.5
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	48.0	52.0	51.6
Appenzell Innerrhoden	35.3	64.7	45.1
St. Gallen	44.5	55.5	48.8
Grisons	28.8	71.2	46.3
Aargau	43.4	55.7	49.3
Thurgau	44.3	55.7	46.8
Ticino	32.0	68.0	45.9
Vaud	31.4	68.6	51.8
Valais	21.7	78.3	53.0
Neuchâtel	39.5	60.5	43.9
Geneva	31.7	68.3	51.1
law	40.8	59.2	40.7
Swiss Confederation	40.8	59.2	49.2

Reactions to the result of the vote

The media were surprised at the high level of popular rejection by the people. With the exception of Schaffhausen, the initiative was also rejected in the cantons in which this tax privilege had already been rejected. The clear result was seen by most of the media as a commitment of the population to federalism and thus the tax sovereignty of the individual cantons. It was also pointed out that in the course of the debate some cantons and the federal government had tightened the provisions and thereby contributed to the rejection of the initiative. The Tages-Anzeiger certified the AL that it had hit a nerve. She achieved the best result with the smallest budget of all initiatives.

See also

• Federal popular initiative "Stop overpopulation - to secure the natural foundations of life"
• Federal popular initiative "Save our Swiss gold (gold initiative)"

Web links

• Statements by the Federal Council (voting booklet)
• Website of the popular initiative "Ending tax privileges for millionaires (abolition of flat-rate taxation)"
• Website of the committee "No to the flat-rate taxation initiative"
• Federal popular initiative "Ending tax privileges for millionaires (abolition of flat-rate taxation)" on the Federal Chancellery website
• Federal Council Dispatch (PDF) of June 26, 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Five reasons to abolish the flat-rate tax. from: pauschalsteuer- Abschaffen.ch , accessed on October 21, 2014.
2. ↑ Line under the millionaire privilege. ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from: pauschalsteuer- Abschaffen.ch , October 21, 2014, accessed on October 22, 2014.  
3. ↑ No to the flat-rate taxation initiative - arguments. ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at: hoehere-steuern-nein.ch , accessed on October 21, 2014. 
4. ↑ Flat-rate tax initiative: we are entering the final round and need another 31,000 francs. (No longer available online.) Alternate list, November 18, 2014, archived from the original on January 13, 2015 ; accessed on October 11, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Reza Rafi and Denis von Burg: Mountain communities use public money to receive the flat-rate tax . In: Sunday newspaper . November 1, 2014 ( online [accessed October 11, 2016]).
6. ↑ Tax privileges for foreigners could fall. from: srf.ch , accessed on October 24, 2014.
7. ↑ Flat-rate taxation hardly in danger. from: srf.ch , accessed on November 19, 2014.
8. ↑ Preliminary official final results on admin.ch, accessed on November 30, 2014
9. ↑ Maja Briner: Flat-rate tax surprisingly clearly rejected . In: Bündner Tagblatt . December 1, 2014 ( online [accessed October 11, 2016]).
10. ↑ Voters surprisingly clearly reject the flat-rate tax initiative . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . November 30, 2014 ( online [accessed October 11, 2016]).
11. ↑ Retention of the flat tax as a commitment to federalism . In: Basellandschaftliche Zeitung . December 1, 2014 ( online [accessed October 11, 2016]).
12. ↑ Janine Hosp: AL hit a nerve . In: Tages-Anzeiger . November 30, 2014 ( online [accessed October 11, 2016]).