SVP delegates reject VAT rise for 13th pension

Switzerland’s Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has rejected a proposed value-added tax increase to fund the 13th AHV pension, with delegates voting 290 to 3 against it at a meeting in Bulle, SRF reported. The party recommends that voters reject the measure in the November 29 referendum.

The meeting also marked the start of the SVP’s campaign for the 2027 federal elections. Party president and National Council member Marcel Dettling said the party had gained ground in cantons since the 2023 elections because people were concerned about what he called uncontrolled immigration, disorder in the asylum system and the country’s future. He criticised Switzerland’s bilateral agreements with the European Union and accused parliamentarians of seeking to prevent a popular vote requiring approval by both voters and cantons.

National Council member Magdalena Martullo-Blocher called the EU agreements “subjugation treaties”. She said the Council of States had acknowledged that they would cost Switzerland its sovereignty by supporting a requirement for a double majority of voters and cantons. She predicted the National Council would remove that requirement.

National Council member Nicolas Kolly said the federal government should use the money entrusted to it more effectively. He said voters had not agreed to another tax increase when they approved the 13th pension, and argued that it should instead have been funded through spending cuts, including to international cooperation and asylum spending. Guest speaker Pierre-Yves Maillard, a Social Democratic member of the Council of States and president of the Swiss Trade Union Federation, said he would have preferred higher taxes on high incomes. He said additional funding was needed even though the AHV fund would cover 80 per cent of the 13th pension.

Delegates also backed the Centre Party’s initiative for fair federal taxes for married couples, by 274 votes to 9, with 3 abstentions. They supported amendments to the Federal Act on War Material by 271 votes to 16, with 6 abstentions. On Friday evening, the SVP’s central board recommended voting against the fireworks initiative.