Voters in Vaud approved a 12% cut in income and wealth taxes on Sunday, with 53.1% backing the initiative. The measure will not turn the canton into a tax haven. Even after the cut, Vaud’s tax burden will remain above the national average.
Vaud’s residents will continue to rank among the most heavily taxed in Switzerland. The burden will remain particularly high for middle- and upper-middle-income taxpayers, as well as for the better-off, from 2027 onwards.
By several measures, Vaud ranks alongside Geneva and Basel-City among the three cantons with the heaviest taxation. It is likely to remain near the top of the table for taxpayers with more than CHF 100,000 in taxable income or wealth.
For now, neither business groups nor the political right are preparing another push to cut personal taxes. Their attention is instead turning to the system of tax brackets introduced in 1987. That framework will in any case have to be reworked as Switzerland moves towards individual taxation for married couples.
Swiss voters approved that reform in March. The cantons have until January 1st 2032 to implement it.
Tax policy is therefore likely to return quickly to Vaud’s political agenda after the next cantonal elections, in the summer of 2027—not least because the canton’s finances are under growing strain.
A broader trend in French-speaking Switzerland
Vaud is not alone in tightening its belt. Nor is it the only French-speaking canton considering, or already implementing, tax cuts.
Reducing the burden on some taxpayers has become a broader trend in western Switzerland, where taxes are often higher than in the German-speaking part of the country.
Geneva introduced an average income-tax cut of 8% in 2025. Yet its increasingly difficult fiscal position has reopened the debate. Nathalie Fontanet, the cantonal finance minister, has recently said that all options remain on the table, including tax increases.
In Valais, taxpayers whom the cantonal parliament defines as middle class have benefited from tax relief since last year. The canton has also expanded the deductions available to households.
Bern is preparing a revision of its tax law aimed at easing the burden on low- and middle-income earners. Some taxpayers could see reductions of as much as 20%. The changes are due to be phased in from 2027.
In Neuchâtel, meanwhile, representatives of the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP), the Liberals (PLR/FDP) and the Centre submitted an initiative in July 2025 calling for personal income-tax rates to be cut by 10% by 2030.
High taxes in Vaud, Geneva and Basel-City are not an accident of geography. They reflect a long-standing choice to finance relatively extensive public services and redistribution through progressive personal taxation, compounded in the big cities by heavy spending on health, welfare, education and infrastructure.
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