Vaud social assistance
The canton of Vaud could save 250 million with better management
A study reveals that VAUD could reduce its expenses without penalizing the beneficiaries of social assistance, inspired by the Bernese or Zurich model.
A study pinpoints the management of Vaudois funds in social assistance (illustration).
KEYSTONE/LAURENT GILLIERON
Vaud could save some 250 million francs per year with more efficient management of Social assistancewithout reducing the benefits to beneficiaries, if it optimized its expenses like the canton of Bern, points to an independent study mandated by the Vaud Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CVCI). This document classifies the canton as the second less efficient in this area at the national level.
The objective of the study was to “analyze the efficiency of the administration in the canton of Vaud and better understand how the taxes of Vaudoises and Vaudois are spent,” the CVCI said on Tuesday in a press release published on the sidelines of the study carried out by Swiss Economics.
This analysis set out to compare the “performances of the Vaudoise administration” with those of the cantons of Bern and Zurich, considered as comparable in terms of demography, public infrastructure and economic diversity. The authors focused on “the most important cantonal expenses, namely training and social security”, explains the CVCI.
Change your debate
It turns out that the canton of Vaud is more efficient than the other two in terms of training, with net expenses per lower student in terms of compulsory education. An observation qualified as “pleasant” by the CVCI. On the other hand, “the rub in the field of social security”, she notes.
According to the study, in terms of social assistance expenditure in the strict sense, “the canton of Vaud […] records costs significantly higher than those of the cantons of Bern and Zurich, while the services […] remain comparable to those of other cantons ”. Clearly, Vaudois taxpayers pay more taxes, without the beneficiaries of social assistance only affecting those of other cantons.
“These results make it possible to get out of the debate which automatically links tax reductions to cuts in public benefits involving negative impact on the population,” thursles the CVCI.
Vaud penultimate in front of soleure
The study established a classification of the Swiss cantons in terms of social assistance efficiency, by correcting biases due to household size, the proportion of single -parent households and the density of the population. The canton of Bern emerged champion with 99%efficiency, ahead of Shaffhouse (98%), while Vaud ranks in a penultimate position with an efficiency of 78%, just ahead of Soline (76%). Zurich is in the middle of the classification, with 93%.
“The canton of Vaud could save around 22% of its spending for social assistance in the broad sense if it was as efficient as the canton presenting the best results […]. Based on the costs of the year 2022, it would result from estimated savings of around 250 million francs in social assistance in the broad sense, “concludes Swiss Economics.
Lamal taxes and subsidies
Among the causes of the lack of efficiency, the CVCI points to the growth of 16.3% of the number of full-time equivalents (EPT) per capita in the public sector between 2011 and 2022 in the canton of Vaud. This value increased by 5.5% in the canton of Zurich and decreased by 17.6% in the canton of Bern at the same period.
The CVCI also denounces the fact that the tax revenues of the canton of Vaud have increased by approximately 2.5% per year since 2004, while the increase was limited to around 1.5% per year in Bern and Zurich. It also underlines the sharp increase in Vaudois expenditure on contributions to health insurance. Indeed, Vaud contributed 519 million francs in 2023, against 358 million for Zurich and 279 million in Bern.
“The canton of Vaud has everything to do better,” concludes the CVCI. Among the solutions, it advocates in particular to lower income and fortune tax (popular initiative), to link subsidies to health insurance at the activity rate of the persons concerned and to enhance vocational training by re -evaluating access to the gymnasium.
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