Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

20 Minutes. In Switzerland, home owners have to add a theoretical rent to their taxable income. This means home ownership can increase your annual tax bill, sometimes substantially. © Ana Vasileva | Dreamstime For many home owners the tax effect of the theoretical or imputed rent is cancelled out by deductions for mortgage interest and home maintenance expenses, however those who have repaid their mortgage or never...

20 Minutes. In Switzerland, home owners have to add a theoretical rent to their taxable income. This means home ownership can increase your annual tax bill, sometimes substantially. © Ana Vasileva | Dreamstime For many home owners the tax effect of the theoretical or imputed rent is cancelled out by deductions for mortgage interest and home maintenance expenses, however those who have repaid their mortgage or never had one can be forced to pay substantially more tax for the the pleasure of...

A report published by the head hunting firm Korn Ferry finds pay differences between men and women doing the same job are statistically insignificant. © Clementgreenberg | Dreamstime The report says that while it is true that, as a group, women get paid less than men, it is not because they receive less for the same work. It is because they don’t get the highest-paying jobs in the highest-paid industries. Korn Ferry’s number crunchers took pay data on more than 20 million employees across...

In June 2017, Switzerland’s Federal Council announced plans to reduce the discounts offered to those willing to risk paying the first chunk of their annual medical bills. The plan included reducing the maximum premium discounts given for opting for deductibles, the amount paid by the insured before insurance kicks in. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime - Click to enlarge On Tuesday, according to 20 Minutes, a commission for...

A survey by price comparison site comparis.ch found 40% would struggle if Swiss health insurance premiums rose significantly in 2018. © Subbotina | Dreamstime The survey questioned 700 people across all of Switzerland. 20% of families said they couldn’t cope with a rise of CHF 10 a month and 13% said they couldn’t cope with a CHF 20 monthly rise. 17% of single people said an extra CHF 20 a month would break their budgets. When asked why they thought premiums continued to rise, those surveyed...

20 Minutes. A motion adopted by Switzerland’s parliament on 7 June 2017 proposes halting the import the meat of mistreated animals. The work of Matthias Aebischer, a socialist member from the canton of Bern, was originally focused on foie gras, frogs legs and fur, but there are now suggestions his motion might include animals slaughtered according to certain islamic and jewish rituals. © Balint Radu | Dreamstime According to the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, Katharina Büttiker, the president of...

In June 2017, Switzerland’s Federal Council announced plans to reduce the discounts offered to those willing to risk paying the first chunk of their annual medical bills. The plan included reducing the maximum premium discounts given for opting for deductibles, the amount paid by the insured before insurance kicks in. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime On Tuesday, according to 20 Minutes, a commission for the Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, said it disagreed with the Federal Council’s...

Would you eat balls made from insects? Last year the Swiss supermarket Coop applied for authorisation to sell insect based products. Then on 14 August 2017 it announced a limited number of its stores and its delivery service Coop@home would start selling the products from 21 August 2017, phasing the products in across other stores between August and the end of the year. Source: Coop.ch “We have been working on this project for a long time and the time has finally come. We are the first Swiss...

According to 20 Minutes, Jacques Bourgeois, the director of the Swiss Farmers’ Union, supports sanctioning farmers who fail to treat their animals properly by cutting the farm subsidies they receive from the Swiss government. © Kate Amiguet In 2015, producer support in Switzerland amounted to around 57% of farm revenues according to an OECD estimate. Swiss farm subsidies are second to only Norway’s and more than three times the OECD average. Bourgeois thinks the “black sheep” who disregard...

According to various newspapers, Swiss Rail placed an advert on a job portal at ETH, a university in Zurich, offering work to cunning vixens, “schlaue Füchsinnen” in German. © Denis Linine | Dreamstime Successful applicants need to dress up as foxes, including fox tails, and run around train stations with posters informing travellers of alternative train connections. 20 Minutes reported that a Swiss Rail spokesperson said that of course male foxes could also apply. The organisation Terre des...