This week, Switzerland’s government rejected a call to double the price of the motorway vignette, reported RTS. The annual permit, which has cost CHF 40 since 1995, will not rise to CHF 80, as proposed by Martin Candinas, a centrist MP from Graubünden. He had argued that the increase should be coupled with a matching […]
Swiss rents set to rise sharply in coming years
Swiss tenants face steep rent increases in the coming years. According to Martin Tschirren, head of the Federal Housing Office, advertised rents are likely to climb by 3–5% annually. Demand for housing continues to outstrip supply, he told the NZZ am Sonntag on 25 August 2025, as his office released its latest housing market data. […]
Switzerland’s higher state pensions to be financed with VAT increase
In March 2024 Swiss voters approved, by 58%, a plan to grant pensioners a 13th monthly payment. That set off a quarrel over how to fund it. This week the National Council’s social-security committee backed a scheme to finance the extra benefit solely through a 0.7 percentage point rise in value-added tax, reported SRF. The […]
Swiss jobs market: more workers, more jobless
Switzerland’s labour market looked both buoyant and brittle in the second quarter of 2025. Employment edged up, but unemployment did too, according to a report published by the Federal Statistical Office this week. The number of people in work rose by 0.6% year on year to 5.36m, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Adjusted for […]
Bern rejects extra emergency-room charge
This week, Bern decided patients who turn up at accident-and-emergency units with trivial complaints should not face extra charges, reported RTS. On Wednesday it rejected a parliamentary proposal to let cantons impose a levy on such visits, arguing it would add bureaucracy without easing pressure on hospitals. The idea came from Thomas Weibel, a former […]
The F-35 fiasco – price hikes, tariffs, and US intransigence
Washington has refused to guarantee a fixed price for Switzerland’s 36 F-35 fighter jets, reported RTS. The total bill will therefore exceed the CHF 6 billion approved by voters. After weeks of talks with senior White House officials—including a call between America’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, and Switzerland’s defence minister, Martin Pfister—the United States has […]
Swiss government urges voters to back a tax on second homes to axe imputed rent
The Federal Council and Parliament urge voters to back, on 28 September 2025, a constitutional change that would let cantons levy a special property tax on owner-occupied second homes. The measure is a prerequisite for a wider reform of housing taxation that would scrap the “imputed rent” now charged to home owners. At a press […]
Swiss federal deficit far smaller than feared
Switzerland now expects a much smaller federal deficit in 2025, reported RTS. The shortfall should be about CHF 200 million, versus the CHF 800 million pencilled into the budget. Bern says the improvement does not alter its savings programme. The better than expected result driven by a windfall rather than a trend. The upgrade stems […]
Swiss central bank hit by 15 billion franc loss
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) reported a first-half loss of CHF 15.3 billion, dragged down by foreign-currency positions that turned sharply negative in the second quarter. After posting a profit of CHF 6.7 billion in the first three months of the year, the central bank recorded a loss of CHF 22 billion between April and June—wiping out earlier […]
Swiss retailers squeezed by shopping tourism
Swiss retail endured a bruising first half of 2025. Sales between January and June fell by an estimated 1.9% compared with the same period last year, according to the Swiss Retail Federation, which analysed debit and credit card transactions. Physical stores bore the brunt, with revenues dropping 2.2%, while online sales eked out a modest […]
