Author: switzerlandtimes.ch
A survey run by gfs.bern that asked more than 57,000 people what makes someone Swiss was published by RTS this week. One of the takeaways from the survey is that a person’s behaviour is more important than their origin. 54% said that origin was of secondary importance when establishing Swissness. The most important behaviour for being Swiss was respecting Swiss institutions and laws. 96% of those surveyed said this was very (74%) ot fairly (22%) important. In second place was speaking a national language, considered by 95% to be very (72%) or fairly (23%) important. Next in line was respecting…
To reduce the pressure on an overloaded asylum system Switzerland has started a pilot system to processes certain asylum requests within 24 hours, reported RTS. The fast-track asylum process will be tested on groups of asylum seekers with low rates of success, in particular those arriving from the North African nations of Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. According to Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) less than 2% of asylum applications made by citizens of these nations are accepted. If these low probability applications could be dealt with quickly then there would be fewer people held in suspense in the…
Switzerland, where only 36% of the population own their homes, is sometimes referred to as a nation of renters. So when rents rise, as they have recently, the subject becomes political. On Wednesday, Switzerland’s Federal Council announced that it was looking for ways to temper short term rent increases. Across Switzerland, 64% of the population was renting their homes in 2020. The percentage of people renting ranged from 85% in Basel-City to 42% in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden. In Geneva the rate was 82% and in Zurich it was 63%. Since 2008, Switzerland has had a mechanism, included in many lease…
The costs of mortgages and building maintenance are rising. Rents are following. In French-speaking Switzerland tenant arbitration organisations are receiving a deluge of complaints and requests for help from tenants, reported RTS. In Switzerland, it is common for rental agreements to contain a clause that allows rents to be adjusted up or down based on a reference interest rate, which is calculated based on the average cost of mortgage finance. The rate was adjusted up in June 2023. This has led to a significant number of rent increases. In Vaud nearly 1,200 disputes related to rent increases have been officially…
Train and other public transport fares in Switzerland are set to rise 3.7% on average from 10 December 2023. This week it was revealed that the hike was pushed by the federal government, reported Swiss broadcaster SRF. The decision to increase fares came after the federal government put pressure on Swiss Rail to push the amount it charges passengers higher. Switzerland’s price watchdog Stefan Meierhans said he was shocked. Internal documents revealed by the newspaper Sonntagsblick show that Swiss Rail, a key price setter, did not want to raise fares and had planned no price hikes until 2030. However, Switzerland’s…
Every quarter, Switzerland publishes updated spending forecasts for the current year. On 25 October 2023, it raised the 2023 spending forecast by CHF 300 million to 81.6 billion, an increase of 0.4% on the previous quarter, but still below the original budget. The revision takes the ordinary budget deficit from an original CHF -700 million to -900 million, a figure 300 million above the late quarterly estimate of -600 million. At the same time, after extraordinary spending is taken into account, the latest forecast deficit of CHF -1.8 billion remains far ahead of the original of -4.8 billion. This is…
Every year, investigativ.ch, an association of investigative journalists, bestows an award on the public figure it deems to have exercised the lowest levels of transparency during the year. This year the award went to Karin Keller-Sutter, Switzerland’s minister of finance, for the secret decision making process surrounding the fire sale of the bank Credit Suisse to UBS, another Swiss bank. The arrangement was backstopped by the federal government, and ultimately taxpayers, and stripped Credit Suisse shareholders of their normal rights to vote on the deal. The award, known as the golden brake shoe (le Sabot d’or) in French and the…
From 1 January 2024, electric vehicles (EV) will be taxed like their petrol and diesel equivalents, announced Switzerland’s Federal Council this week, reported RTS. Cars imported into Switzerland suffer a 4% tax. EVs are currently exempted from this tax. From the beginning of next year all cars including EVs will be taxed. The exemption, introduced in 1997, was designed to increase the rate of uptake of electric cars. However, on Wednesday the Federal Council said it is a superfluous incentive. I believes that EV sales will rise without the talk break. EVs also use the roads and the tax is…
Switzerland, a nation with a reputation for well managed finances, like much of the world is struggling to cover rising costs. Projected spending on the military and state pensions are key challenges. Spending on refugees and healthcare are additional head winds. The federal government has been looking hard for savings. However, this week talk turned to the possibility of higher taxes, reported RTS. At around 17% of GDP, Switzerland federal debt is relatively low by world standards. However, this must be added to cantonal government debt to get a full picture. The Swiss government is essentially facing expenses that are…
According to the Economist’s annual ranking of cities, Zurich came out top in the report published on 29 November 2023. Photo by Ömer Gülen on Pexels.com Tied in first place this year were Singapore and Zurich. Singapore is no stranger to the top spot: it has ranked as the priciest place to live in nine of the past 11 years. Groceries, alcohol and clothing in the international business hub can cost a small fortune, wrote the Economist. The cost of a certificate needed to own a car (which the government wants to discourage) recently topped $106,000. Zurich, meanwhile, jumped five…