National Council wants to prevent double taxation of companies

On Wednesday the National Council approved a motion by Marco Chiesa (SVP/TI) by 101 votes to 86 with three abstentions. The Council of States still has to decide on the motion. Chiesa intends to instruct the Federal Council to amend the Federal Act on the Harmonisation of Direct Taxes of the Cantons and Communities.

According to the petitioner, double taxation takes place because the capital of a company is taxed once by the company and a second time as assets by the shareholders. Some cantons already provide for reduced taxation of participations in unlisted corporations and cooperatives based in Switzerland. However, this practice in individual cantons is not included in federal legislation.

Cantons should therefore be empowered in the Federal Act on the Harmonisation of Direct Taxes of the Cantons and Municipalities (StHG) to reduce wealth tax. This is the case insofar as the assets are holdings of at least ten percent of the share capital of a public limited company or of the cooperative capital of a cooperative.

Finance Minister Ueli Maurer rejects this idea, even if the cantons would occasionally call for tax harmonisation, as he said in the Council. The sovereignty of the cantons must be preserved, he said. In addition, for economic reasons, it would have to be capital tax rather than income tax.