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The Swiss government is looking hard to find ways to reduce the cost of health care. One idea is to make accident and emergency patients pay a CHF 50 fee before treatment. © Hai Huy Ton That | Dreamstime.com National counsellor Thomas Weibel put forward a parliamentary initiative to levy a CHF 50 charge at the time of hospital admission. The measure aims to dissuade people from going to accident and emergency with minor ailments. Hospital treatment is expensive compared to a visit to a family...

In Switzerland, pension rules make it more expensive to employ older workers. © Fizkes | Dreamstime.com The amount employers must contribute to 2nd pillar contribution-based employee pensions increases with age. Workers under 35 only cost an additional 3.5% of salary. From 55, workers cost employers an additional 9% – workers aged 35 to 44 cost employers an additional 5% and those 45 to 54 cost an extra 7.5%. The association 50 plus is calling for changes to this system, and along with others...

In Switzerland, the official retirement age for women is 64, a year earlier than it is for men. © Jakub Jirsák | Dreamstime.com A poll by gfs.bern shows that around two thirds are in favour of raising the retirement age of women to 65. Only 16% are against the idea, with a further 18% somewhat against it. Men (78%) are more in favour of the change than women (54%), according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. In addition, around two thirds are in favour of raising VAT to shore up the finances of...

Foreigners who don’t work in Switzerland can benefit from special tax deals known as lump sum taxation, or forfait fiscal in French. © Gregl87 | Dreamstime.com Instead of paying tax on their worldwide income and assets their tax is calculated based on their living expenses. When someone becomes Swiss they automatically lose eligibility. The regime, which generated CHF 767 million of tax revenue in 2016, is frequently under attack. A federal referendum to do away with it in November 2014 was...

An initiative entitled: zero losses, was filed this week in Geneva. It aims to ring fence current public spending in the face of future company tax reform. The initiative gathered 9,147 signatures, more than the 7,840 required. © Rosshelen | Dreamstime.com Under pressure from the OECD and the EU, Switzerland is being forced to make major changes to its tax system. Currently, some multinationals benefit from special low-rate tax deals, while most other companies pay a higher standard rate. The...

The business and industry association Economiesuisse says the up-coming vote on 25 November 2018 on self-determination puts the Swiss economy at risk. © Nattanan726 | Dreamstime.com The Swiss People’s Party led initiative entitled: Federal law instead of foreign judges, aims to cement the primacy of Swiss law over international law by adding a clause to Switzerland’s constitution. The Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, has said the change would create a legal straight jacket that would...

This week, Bell, a Swiss meat processor, announced an investment in Dutch synthetic meat start-up Mosa Meat. A burger made from Cultured Beef Mosa Meat, a leader in the market of cultured beef, was co-founded by Mark Post of the University of Maastricht, who is considered to be the global pioneer in the production of cultured meat. Rather than a meat substitute, cultured meat is meat grown in vitro. Muscle cells are extracted from an animal and placed in a solution that feeds them and allows...

Net migration into Switzerland from the EU was down by 11% last year, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). © Arturo Osorno | Dreamstime.com In 2017, a net 31,250 people from the EU and EFTA moved to Switzerland. And, with a 4% decline in the number arriving over the five months to May 2018, the fall looks set to continue. For some nationalities the net flow went into reverse. In 2017, more Portuguese left Switzerland than arrived. The fall appears to be related to...

In Switzerland, tax is largely determined by the canton of residence. The range of tax rates is wide. In 2017, a single person earning CHF 100,000 paid only CHF 7,592 in the canton of Zug but CHF 19,233 in the canton of Neuchâtel, more than 2.5 times as much. Someone married with children earning the same amount paid CHF 920 in Zug and CHF 9,249 in Neuchâtel, more than 10 times as much. The chart above shows tax rates by canton in 2017 for single and married people with two children...

With TV recording there’s no need to miss programmes just because they’re on at the wrong time. And, when it’s time to watch them, it’s easy to fast forward through the adverts, something that can’t be done when watching live. © Sebastian L | Dreamstime.com In Switzerland, television recording is offered by big distributers, such as Swisscom, Sunrise and UPC. Broadcasters don’t provide it. While fast forwarding adverts is great for viewers, broadcasters, who claim to have missed out on CHF 87...