corporate taxes
Council of States against higher federal share of OECD minimum tax
The councils continue to disagree on the distribution of the expected additional revenue from the OECD minimum tax for internationally active corporations. The Council of States insists on a federal share of one quarter. The National Council wants twice as much.
The small chamber made its decision on Monday by 31 votes to 11 with one abstention. As early as September, she spoke out for the first time in favor of giving 75 percent of the income to the cantons where the companies concerned are located and only 25 percent to the federal government.
The proponents of this solution argued in particular that the new minimum tax would put Switzerland at a disadvantage in international location competition. The cantons need funds to increase the attractiveness of the location. In addition, it is a broadly supported compromise between the federal government, cantons and municipalities. All cantons benefited indirectly from this via the financial equalization system. The Federal Council also shared this position.
In particular, the council left warned against a popular no to the new constitutional article, especially cantons such as Zug or Basel-Stadt should receive money. The gap between high and low tax cantons should not widen further. This requires – as decided by the National Council – a federal share of 50 percent.
Finance Minister Ueli Maurer said the question had received a weight that it actually didn’t deserve. Measured by the financial flows between the federal government and the cantons, it is not about a lot of money.
Nothing is gained by making the rich cantons a little poorer, says Maurer: “We need strong cantons.” The location cantons did not benefit overall from the tax reform. Rather, they are threatened with the exodus of companies.
At the heart of the OECD/G20 tax reform is a minimum tax rate of 15 percent for all companies with annual sales of more than 750 million euros. According to the Federal Council, around 2,000 companies in Switzerland are affected by the reform. 600,000 purely nationally active SMEs are not covered by the new regulation.
The Federal Council wants to implement the new rules with a supplementary tax. The people and cantons are expected to vote on the constitutional amendment required for this in early summer 2023.
(SDA)