History of the Solothurn tax system

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This presentation of the recent history of the Solothurn tax system is limited to cantonal developments since the liberal upheaval of 1830/31.

Based on the new constitution of 1831, initially only indirect taxes as well as fees and charges were levied, which burdened all strata of the population almost equally, regardless of tax power. Around 1860, efforts were made to distribute this tax burden more fairly in the form of direct taxes . However, a law from 1868 failed due to an appeal to the Federal Council . Reason: The entire agricultural acquisition "with a large productive property value" (which corresponded to about 70 percent of the population) was exempt from this direct tax. The Federal Council rejected this because of a violation of legal equality . Although the verdict was not legally binding, the law was not subsequently applied by the cantonal authorities.

It was finally possible to introduce this direct tax in 1895. The Solothurn Workers' Party, the forerunner of the cantonal Social Democratic Party, had put special pressure on this.

However, this type of tax also contained a uniform percentage tax rate, which means that those with a good income were burdened more heavily than those with poor earnings. The tax progression that is customary today did not yet exist. It was only introduced with a constitutional amendment in 1938. With the tax law of 1939, the burden on middle and higher incomes increased in such a way that the government council expected considerable additional income, which was urgently needed at the time.

The further changes in the tax burden due to the direct tax up to the present time related in a first phase to increases in the progression rates, in a second phase from around the 1990s onwards primarily to certain tax reductions. In the more recent years, tax changes were only made with changes to the tax rate , which the Cantonal Council decided on its own authority and which, as in 1895, only has a percentage effect.

literature

  • Markus Angst: The Solothurn bank crash and the constitutional revision of 1887. Dissertation, Zurich, 1986.
  • State Chancellery Solothurn: Submission to the referendum of September 10, 1939 - Law on direct state and municipal taxes.