Two weeks after a proposal in Parliament failed again, the CVP is breaking new ground to abolish the marriage penalty. The party leadership is planning a new referendum – without definition of marriage. The original initiative is to be withdrawn.
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Party President Gerhard Pfister said this on Saturday in an interview with the “Tagesschau” of Swiss television. The relevant proposals are submitted by the party leadership to the initiative committee or the party committees.
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“The marriage penalty was not abolished for several decades – neither in taxes nor in the OASI,” said Pfister. That has to change now. “We see no other option but to come back with an initiative.”
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The federal government submitted incorrect numbers when voting
In 2016, the electorate narrowly rejected the CVP popular initiative “For Marriage and Family – Against the Marriage Penalty”. Because the federal government had provided incorrect figures, the federal court later ruled that the vote should be canceled.
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If the initiative is not withdrawn, the ballot would have to be repeated. With the latest decision by the CVP leadership, this scenario has become unlikely. Rather, a new initiative is likely to be voted on in the coming years. In order for this to happen, 100,000 signatures must be collected within 18 months. First, the initiators have to formally withdraw their “old” referendum with marriage definition.
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According to the new information from the federal government, around 454,000 married couples and 250,000 married couples are affected by the marriage penalty. They are disadvantaged compared to unmarried couples by an additional tax burden of more than 10 percent.
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According to Pfister, the aim of the new initiative must be to end discrimination against spouses and persons in a registered partnership without re-discriminating against other groups. So it should now also benefit homosexuals. In doing so, the party is responding to an important criticism of the previous popular initiative, which wanted to enshrine a conservative definition of marriage between men and women in the constitution.
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New template in about three years from the urn
The National Council had rejected a proposal by the Federal Council in the past winter session. This provided for married couples and persons in a registered partnership to choose between joint and individual taxation. The CVP supported this proposal. The majority, on the other hand, complained that the Federal Council’s proposal would not do justice to the different forms of life and family by punishing new couples.
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The new initiative will leave it up to the parliament to decide exactly how the marriage penalty for taxes and the AHV should be eliminated. If there is a yes in the urn, probably in about three years, the discussion will start again.
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By then, the Federal Council may have already drafted a new bill. He got enough suggestions in December. Some argue for individual taxation, which in turn is criticized by the cantons. Others introduced a «modern couple and family taxation» – without becoming more specific.
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The order has been in existence since 1984
The mandate to abolish the marriage penalty has been in place since 1984. The Federal Council has so far presented five models and all cantons have implemented the mandate. Parliament has so far not found a compromise on federal tax.
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The recently rejected reform of the Federal Council would have resulted in a shortfall of around CHF 1.5 billion in direct federal tax. Around 1.2 billion of these would have been allocated to the Confederation and 300 million to the cantons. (SDA)
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