Fair taxes: end the marriage tax penalty (cross-border guide)

Context

In brief

• The cross-party committee launched the campaign in Bern.
• The initiative concerns only direct federal tax.
• The project provides for the accumulation of the income of the spouses.
• Individual taxation remains excluded from the proposal.

Key Facts

• Initiative: "for fair taxes" of the Centre
• Location: Bern
• Objective: to eliminate tax discrimination against married couples
• Scope: Direct federal tax only
• Declaration: accumulation of income of spouses
• Comparison: de facto couples in a similar economic situation
• Exclusion: Transition to individual taxation

On Thursday, a large cross-party committee in Bern launched the campaign in favour of the Centre's "fair taxes" initiative. The proposal stems from a specific goal: to ensure that marriage is no longer a tax disadvantage.

The committee presented its arguments for taxation that respects the realities of families. The central point is the comparison between married couples and unmarried couples who are in a similar economic situation. According to the proposal, the former would no longer have to pay higher direct federal taxes than the latter.

The stated goal

The campaign summarizes the purpose of the initiative with a clear formula:

The committee aims to "eliminate tax discrimination against married couples with a fair and simple solution".

The text presented in Bern is not described as a general revision of the tax system, but as an intervention on the treatment of married couples in the context of direct federal taxation. This delimitation is decisive for reading the news correctly: the issue is the difference between marriage and cohabitation economically similar, within a precise tax framework.

The proposed constitutional amendment concerns only direct federal tax. On a technical level, it establishes the accumulation of the income of the spouses in the dichiarazione delle imposte. The cumulation is therefore part of the solution indicated by the committee and not a secondary detail of the campaign.

The same approach also clarifies what the text does not want to do. The proposal excludes the transition to individual taxation. For those who follow the debate, the two elements must be kept together: the aim is to eliminate tax discrimination against married couples, while the method indicated is the accumulation of the spouses' income.

The campaign launched in Bern on Thursday thus presents a circumscribed constitutional amendment, with an explicit tax objective and a defined declaration method. The comparison with unmarried couples remains linked to the condition indicated in the source: a similar economic situation.

Operational details

The practical value of the proposal lies above all in its perimeter. For a family, talking about marriage penalties does not automatically mean talking about every item that appears in a declaration: the campaign is built around direct federal tax alone. The question to ask is therefore what tax level and what type of taxation are involved.

Three levels, one scope of proposal

In the Swiss system, the reader must distinguish between direct federal tax, cantonal taxes and municipal taxes. Each canton has its own law and its own multiplier; the municipalities apply a multiplier on the cantonal one. This framework serves to avoid an overly broad reading: the fact that the initiative concerns the IFD does not mean, on its own, that all components of a household's taxation change in the same way.

| Voice | Practical reading of the proposal | | Married couple | Income of the spouses accumulated in the return | | De facto couple | term of comparison if the economic situation is similar | | Direct federal tax | single tax level indicated by the proposal | | Individual taxation | Excluding passage |

The comparison announced by the committee therefore has a precise condition: the economic situation must be similar. It is not enough to compare two different families and attribute every difference to marriage. The goal is equal treatment within the indicated perimeter, not a promise of the same result for any taxpayer.

The same boundary helps not to confuse the initiative with other chapters of economic life. VAT is not the object indicated; the same applies, by subject, to AHV/AHV and BVG/BVG contributions and to KVG/KVG premiums. These references may affect the household budget, but are not described as part of the constitutional amendment presented in Bern.

For those who live in the cantons, the operational point is to separate any federal effect from the other items. A calculation referring to direct federal tax is not sufficient to describe the entire tax burden. For a broader reading of the household budget, you can also consult the guide on costo della vita in Svizzera.

Useful planning tools

To estimate your pension strategy, use the pension planner and the pillar 3 simulator.

Key points

The launch of the campaign should be read as a presentation of a proposal: the available text indicates the objective, scope and mechanism, but does not deliver an amount to be automatically transferred to each return. For a reader, the concrete work is therefore to correctly classify his tax comparison and not to attribute broader effects to the proposal than those described.

Four tests before comparison

1. State of the couple. Identify whether the comparison concerns a married couple or a de facto couple. These are the two situations compared by the initiative, but only when the economic condition is similar.

2. Type of tax. Check that the analysis concerns direct federal tax. If the document or calculation concerns another level, do not automatically attribute the effect of the proposal to it.

3. Income to be considered. For the solution described, the technical point is the accumulation of the spouses' income in the tax return. This is the criterion to be observed when reading the text of the initiative.

4. Method of taxation. Check that it is not presented as an individual taxation: the source expressly says that the passage is excluded.

This checklist allows the political message and the tax audit to be kept separate. The committee has launched a campaign, while the proposed constitutional amendment indicates the objective, scope and mechanism. From these elements it is possible to understand whether a debate or a calculation is really talking about the tax penalty on marriage, without extending the topic to VAT, AHV/AHV, LPP/BVG or KVG.

In the comparison, you maintain the same economic basis and look only at the result for direct federal taxation. If the discussion concerns the taxation of the cantons or municipalities, treat it as a separate chapter: the aforementioned proposal concerns only the federal level.

Those who prepare their own dichiarazione delle imposte can then note the federal level and the other components of the tax burden separately. For a first simulation of the tax burden, use the calcolatore imposte.

Source: rsi.ch