Tag Archives: Swiss tax

In Switzerland, marriage can increase the amount of tax a couple pays, something referred to as the marriage penalty. © Katarzyna Bialasiewicz | Dreamstime.comHigher tax is levied on married couples because they are assessed on their combined income rather than separately. Another argument against the current system is that it presents an economic barrier for second income earners who are married. This is because the second income is taxed at a higher rate than the first as it moves...

The latest figures forecast Switzerland’s federal spending for 2018 will be CHF 0.9 billion less than expected. This and higher than expected receipts of CHF 1.3 billion add up to an extra CHF 2.2 billion on top of an original budget surplus of CHF 0.3 billion, bringing the total forecast federal surplus to CHF 2.5 billion. © Marekusz | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s federal government is now expecting to spend CHF 70.2 billion is 2018, around CHF 8,300 per resident. The extra revenue is driven...

This week the bank Credit Suisse published its cantonal cost of living report. Its ranking considers a typical household’s biggest expenses: tax, housing, commuting, basic health insurance and childcare. It takes income and deducts all of these costs to arrive at a measure of disposable income. Life is cheper in Uri © Stefano Ember | Dreamstime.com In a simplified world it might be expected that low tax rates would push up the cost of most other things as the wealthy arrived and bid up...

Switzerland was placed fourth globally in the 2016 Economic Freedom index published by the Heritage Foundation on Monday. One of only five countries declared economically free, Switzerland ranked top in Europe and was the only country in the top five not to lose any ground. In fact it improved by half a point. 178 countries were ranked and the average score was 60.7. The overall rankings can be seen here. Why did Switzerland score so well? With an overall score of 81 out of 100, Switzerland...