On average, the Swiss pay 20% of their income to cantonal and communal taxes – RTS.CH
Swiss taxpayers pay an average of the cantons and municipalities 19.6% of their income. This is the highest rate ever reached since 2008. The tax burden has increased in half of the cantons, dropped in ten and remained stable in three.
The cantons of Vaud and Geneva present, as the previous year, the tax charges on the highest natural persons in Switzerland, with respectively 25.6% and 25.5%, said the Federal Finance Administration.
Conversely, Zug still presents the lowest load, with 12%.
Increase in tax revenue
In seven cantons, the 2025 index of the exploitation of the tax potential – which reflects the overall tax burden by canton – is greater than the Swiss average. Vaud presents the highest index, followed by Geneva. Bern, Neuchâtel and Friborg also have higher operating indices. Valais and Jura are average.
The cantons of Central Switzerland, in particular Zug, Schwyz, Uri, Nidwald, Obwald and Glaris, present the lowest clues. Zurich, the most populous canton in Switzerland, has an index below the average.
Total tax revenues on natural persons increased on average by 2.6%. Only Neuchâtel and Schaffhouse record a drop.
Legal persons
Legal persons, on the other hand, pay 9.1% of their net profits to cantons and municipalities. The cantons of Valais (20.5%) and Ticino (16.8%) have total tax charges on the highest legal persons in Switzerland.
With 2.6% and 3.1%, Zug and Schaffhouse are the cantons whose tax charges are the lowest.
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