Withholding tax law to go to vote

Wednesday, 6 April 2022 06:30

Voters will have the final say if the withholding tax on interest payments is abolished or not.

Parliament approved the abolition last year, but a coalition of left-wing parties have collected 60,000 signatures to force a referendum.

The withholding tax works by keeping back 35% of money paid in interest – its returned after filing a tax return. The idea is to cut down on evasion.

But the government maintains it hampers investment.

Opponents say it benefits large firms and the wealthy and does nothing for ordinary people and only widens inequality.

More from Bitesize News

Bank details compromised

British digital bank Revolut has admitted handing customer information to fraudsters who impersonated a European government agency
Watch theft victim speaks out

A luxury watch dealer just across the French border from Geneva has broken his silence about a violent robbery earlier this month
Crans Montana hearings due before end of year

Jessica Moretti, who ran the Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, is now living in near-isolation in the Valais village of Lens more than eight months after the deadly New Year's Eve fire
Better news for economy

Switzerland's economy will grow 1.7% this year — nearly double the 0.9% expansion forecast in June, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said yesterday
Geneva budget plan unveiled

Geneva has now put figures to its austerity plan — a CHF 546 million deficit for 2027, even after CHF 247 million in cuts
Summer fires increase

Firefighters across French-speaking Switzerland tackled far more vegetation fires this summer than in any of the past five years