Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Voters in canton Vaud decide Sunday 27 September if they want to create a single canton-wide police force that combines the existing cantonal police and the various municipal forces. Lausanne’s voters will also decide where to put two new stadiums that the city wants to build.

On the same day in Geneva, voters will decide yet again on smoking in public places, and  they will vote on whether or not to lower taxes. Also on the ballot: a change in the annual automobile fee. The city wants to penalize carbon dioxide-emitting passenger cars.

Details:

Voters in Vaud must decide on

• a popular initiative which proposes a unified police force for the canton, combining the present cantonal force with all the local police forces. If the initiative is rejected, the government proposes a similar bill that would rationalize the police forces without eliminating the local police.
• the need to approve the canton’s policy of assistance in favour of people who for reasons of age, handicap or other disability are no longer able to take care of themselves at home, and who need to be cared for in special facilities.
• adapting Vaud’s constitution so that school children can be cared for on school premises all day long, and not just during school hours. This would extend the schools’ responsibility in the morning before school begins, at noon and in the afternoon after school hours. Supporters of help for working couples and school lunch programmes back the change.
• cantonal law which needs to be aligned with the new federal code of penal procedures. The public prosecutor (ministère public) will assume the present role of the investigating judge in criminal cases, and the prosecutor’s role in the cantonal government will be upgraded to a ministry.

Lausanne’s Metamorphose project not called into question, but a yes vote would affect it

Lausanne’s major Metamorphose urban renewal plan that would create a huge new sports, shopping and civic centre complex near the lake is not up for a vote, but city leaders are counseling voters against approving the stadium initiative because they say it would remove the balance provided by the existing Metamorphose plan. The overall project has sparked heated debate in the city in the past, but one of the hottest issues has been the demolition of the popular Pontaise stadium, with a new stadium to be built in the lakefront area and another near the old Pontaise, to house separate sports. The initiative calls for both althletics and football events to be hosted near the old Pontaise.

Geneva votes on

• the tax on capital for corporations that will be reduced by the amount of revenue tax paid, with a cap of CHF8,500. This brings the law on corporate tax into line with federal law. The cantonal government is against the bill, arguing that it doesn’t achieve its objective of reducing corporate tax for smaller businesses. The parliament is in favour.
• a change to the annual vehicle tax, in the form of a carbon tax on big passenger cars. Owners of cars that emit more than 200g/km CO2 will pay 50 percent more tax. Those whose vehicles emit less than 120g/km CO2 will pay only half of the annual car fee. Only new cars are affected. Opponents argue that there are plenty of old cars in the canton, and many people use the canton’s roads who do not live here.
• changes to the law that covers financing of public housing: to increase funding for public housing by CHF 5 million per year.
• a change to the law on the commission that mediates between building owners and renters in case of differences.
• a proposal to ban smoking in closed public spaces, once again. Also gives owners of establishments the option of introducing a smoking area. Back in 2008, voters accepted an amendment to the constitution to ban smoking. The Geneva government introduced an administrative rule to speed up the smoking ban. This was struck down by the Swiss high court, which argued that Geneva had to first put a law in place.
• 42 pages of text to change the law on personal income tax.

The latter proposes that married couples, and singles living and filing together, would pay the same rate. It allows a deduction for families with children, up to CHF9,000 in 2009, and CHF10,000 from 2011 onwards. Families could deduct up to CHF4,000 for childcare expenses per child. The change would lower taxes because it lowers the base at which income is taxed.

The income tax proposal also includes a new “social deduction” for people who receive AVS/AI  income. Retired people would pay less in taxes because this would adjust the tax paid by retired people whose retirement fund (2ème pillier) contributions were not fully tax free when they made them. It caps the combined cantonal and communal taxes at 60 percent of a taxpayer’s income.

Background: Swiss government portal

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