Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter defends on Saturday the increase in taxes on capital withdrawals from the 2nd and 3rd pillars of old age provision. “My department is in the process of looking into several aspects to make this measure a reality,” she said.
She recalls that this is one of only two measures relating to tax increases out of the 60 proposed by a group of experts. “It is a concession to the political parties who criticized the Gaillard report and the emphasis placed on spending,” added the federal councilor in an interview broadcast on Saturday by Le Temps, Schweiz am Wochenende and Südostschweiz.
But “it cannot be ruled out that the Federal Council will for example renounce the measure on the 3rd pillar during the consultation”, continues Ms Keller-Sutter.
Faced with the unfavorable budgetary outlook for the coming years, the Federal Council announced in September cuts of 3.6 billion francs in Confederation spending from 2027 and 4.6 billion by 2030. This plan is based on the report of a group of experts chaired by the former head of the federal finance administration Serge Gaillard and presented at the beginning of September.
Debt brake
If this budgetary relief program fails, “we will not be able to avoid a tax increase”, warns the Saint-Gallois PLR. “And this will inevitably affect the middle class.”
Despite the deterioration of federal finances, the Minister of Finance does not say she is in favor of adapting the debt brake, which limits spending to the amount of structural revenue. “The debt brake is a pillar of Swiss success”, which allowed Switzerland to “exit the debt period of the 1990s”, she notes.
According to her, if the State wants to be social and fulfill its obligations, it must be “strong”. “We must therefore set priorities.” But the minister would find it “very good for the people to vote again” on this constitutional norm.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
Swiss
