Voting Sunday 27 September

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss voters go to the polls Sunday 27 September to decide on a proposed increase in the value-added tax (VAT) to finance the country’s deeply indebted federal disability insurance scheme. They must also decide on whether to strike down a constitutional right that they approved six years ago.

The first measure is a temporary increase in Switzerland’s VAT, or sales tax, from 7.6 to eight percent. The additional funds will go to finance Switzerland’s disability insurance (AI), which is CHF13 billion in debt – and increasing by CHF4m per day. Currently, the government is dipping into the country’s old age pension (AVS) reserves to finance AI operations.

The VAT increase is scheduled to be limited to seven years, from 2011-2017. This will give the government time, it says, to clean up the AI, plagued by poor management and abuses, and put it on a surer footing for the future. A major consequence of a “yes” vote is that the country’s two big social insurance schemes, AVS and AI, will be separated.  If the vote fails, the AVS, and with it the country’s pensioners, runs the risk of slipping into the red in 12 years.

Most economic actors and Swiss political parties support the measure. But some commentators have pointed out that the outcome of the vote is by no means sure: the government’s tiff with Libya and the recent election of Pascal Couchepin’s successor as federal councilor have turned attention away from the vote.

The government says that the measure will add about CHF15 to the average family’s monthly outlays if the proposal is accepted.

Reducing referendums

The second measure asks voters to revise the country’s constitution. The motion would abolish an article that was approved by the Swiss people in 2003. They then approved a “general popular initiative” that, it was hoped, would reduce the number of proliferating initiatives and popular referendums. In practice, the “general popular intitiative” has proved impossible to implement, and rather than keep an article in the constitution that has no practicable application, the people are being asked to revoke it and go back to the status quo ante. Le Temps (Fre) carries a lengthy background report on the issue.

The right to initiative enshrined in the Swiss constitution permits 100,000 eligible voters to propose a new law or a constitutional amendment. The right to referendum gives voters the right to ratify or reject laws proposed, either by the legislature or by popular initiative.

In order to pass, the measures each need a majority both of the popular vote and of the country’s cantons.

Related: Le Temps, NZZ

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