On Sunday, the Swiss voted in a referendum and agreed to raise the corporate tax rate to 15%, meeting a proposal by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to create a global minimum tax of 15%.
With the consent of the Swiss, The country’s authorities, starting in 2024, will impose a global rate of 15%. Currently, the country’s 26 cantons apply individual rates, most of which are less than 15%, and the national average is 13.5%.
The fee applies to groups of companies with an annual turnover of at least 750 million euros. Even as the situation worsens, Switzerland will continue to have one of the lowest corporate tax levels in the world. The proposal, estimated at €2.5 billion annually in additional revenue, has been supported by business groups and the majority of political parties.
Switzerland has offices and headquarters for nearly 2,000 foreign companies, including Google, as well as 200 Swiss multinationals, such as Nestlé. Although the legislative change is affecting them, large business groups have welcomed the greater degree of certainty that the new tax will bring, even if Switzerland loses some of its historical weight in terms of low taxes.
In addition to adjourning the International Rescue Committee, the Swiss this Sunday also approved a new law that will make the country carbon neutral until 2050.
The so-called “Federal Act on Climate Protection, Innovation and Promotion of Energy Security Objectives” aims to reduce Switzerland’s dependence on foreign energy sources – the country is 75% dependent on imports – and, at the same time, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without imposing any bans or new taxes.
The news was updated at 16:45 with the results of the referendum
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