Swiss Parties Skeptical About VAT Hike For Army Spending

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The government's proposed VAT increase to finance defence spending has been rather poorly received in a consultation process which ended on Saturday. Almost all political parties are critical of the idea. Select your language

Generated with artificial intelligence. Listening: Swiss parties skeptical about VAT hike for army spending This content was published on May 31, 2026 - 10:58 2 minutes Keystone-SDA

Deutsch de Viele Vorbehalte gegen Mehrwertsteuererhöhung für Rüstungsausgaben Original Read more: Viele Vorbehalte gegen Mehrwertsteuererhöhung für Rüstungsaus

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Only the Centre Party is unreservedly behind the government's plans to increase VAT by 0.8 percentage points for a limited period of ten years to finance army spending.

The centre-right Radical-Liberal Party, for its part, is in favour of a fund to finance the army's defence spending; however, it rejects“in no uncertain terms” the idea of doing this by increasing VAT.

More More Swiss Politics Value added tax: the Swiss government's all-purpose tool

This content was published on Jan 28, 2026 Switzerland has the lowest VAT rate in Europe. Now the Swiss government wants to increase it to pay for national defence.

Read more: Value added tax: the Swiss government's all-purpose

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