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An analysis by Stefan Eiholzer
18.12.2024, 16:04
For more than seven years, the National Council and the Council of States have debated whether and how the imputed rental value on owner-occupied properties could be abolished. Now, after a lot of back and forth, the two councils have agreed on a complete system change. The imputed rental value should be abolished on first and second homes.
Despite this agreement, the new regulation has not yet been implemented. To put it in the words of Solothurn Central Councilor of States Pirmin Bischofs: “We have reached the penalty shootout of the final game in this seven-year tournament.”
There are those who profit from the imputed rental value
We know penalty shootouts are a lottery. Therefore, even after the long consultation period, it cannot be said whether the change in the system of residential property taxation will actually be implemented or not. Everything is still possible.
The imputed rental value is a tax that owners of houses or apartments pay when they live in their properties themselves. Your fictitious rental income will be included in your taxable income. In return, homeowners can deduct interest they pay on mortgage debts as well as expenses for maintaining the property from their taxes.
Many people benefit from today’s system. Banks because it is interesting not to pay off your house or apartment in full. The construction industry because it is interesting to make investments – for example for energy-efficient renovations. But also the cantons in the holiday regions, which generate taxes thanks to many second homes.
Different interests must be served
It is precisely these many different interests that are the problem for the proposal. During the long consultation of the business, new ideas were repeatedly brought forward from different sides as to how any tax losses could be compensated for. For a long time, the position of the Council of States, which wanted to exclude second homes from the system change, seemed to have a majority.
Parliament decided differently and decided to abolish the imputed rental value for both first and second homes. As counter-financing, a property tax is to be introduced for second homes. In addition, the deductions will be limited so that the federal treasury does not have to record excessive losses.
The game isn’t over yet
The decided system change is consistent and therefore understandable. But it harbors dangers because the reform will have many opponents who are against the system change for a variety of reasons. They could still derail the cause.
To stay with the picture of the football final that was initially drawn: The next penalty will be taken on Friday, when the bill has to survive the final vote of the Federal Assembly. If this succeeds, there will be a referendum on the question of whether the imputed rental value on first and second homes should be abolished. The population then shoots the very last and decisive penalty.
Stefan Eiholzer
Head of the domestic editorial team at Radio SRF
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Stefan Eiholzer is head of the domestic editorial team at Radio SRF. He has been working for SRF since 2001: First he was a TV domestic correspondent in Lucerne, then an editor at “Kulturplatz” and in management of the Central Switzerland regional editorial team at Radio SRF. Eiholzer studied, among other things, at the Institute for Journalism and Communication (MAZ).
