In Switzerland, homeowners who live in their own property must pay tax on it as if they were renting it out. It is a complex fiscal construct that also provides opportunities for tax breaks. Parliament now wants to abolish it. The matter will be put to a nationwide vote on September 28. How did this vote come about? On September 28, Swiss voters will decide whether to abolish the taxation of imputed rental value for homeowners. The issue has been subsumed in another bill, the Federal Decree on Cantonal Taxes on Second Homes. This may look like a mislabelling, but it stems from the years of parliamentary debate on the matter. Imputed rental value can thus only be abolished if the newly proposed cantonal tax is adopted. Here is how this came about. In parliament, cantons in mountainous regions recently opposed the abolition of imputed rental value. The reasons are clear: levying a tax on the imputed rental value of second homes brings in significant revenue. If this goes, cantonal ...
