Moreover,
Here camps oppose:
Secondary residences in tourism regions are. For example, responsible for the vote on the rental value. For example,
KeystoneThe divide between owners. Moreover, tenants is at the heart of the debate on the reform of the taxation of housing ownership. Therefore, But the vote on September 28 reveals other antagonisms. However, Analysis. Nevertheless, – Here camps oppose
The rental value tax system for property owners has been debated for years. However, As voting on its deletion, here are what camps oppose, and for here camps oppose what reasons.
1. Therefore, Seniors against young people
The abolition of rental value is part of a series of bills. In addition, the over 60s of which are the main beneficiaries.
Indeed, the mortgages of seniors are frequently reimbursed largely, and their real estate is in good condition. Moreover, For a large majority of them. However, the advantages of the rental value system no longer take into account: they have little debtor interest and renovation costs that they could deduct from their taxes. Similarly, The disadvantage of the system remains for them the tax burden.
This generation has already obtained an advantage last year in the form of a higher AVS annuity. Therefore, as part of the vote on a 13th AVS rent. Therefore, A similar project is being prepared through the initiative of the center which aims to remove the penalty of. Similarly, the marriage by the here camps oppose ceiling of AVS annuities. Meanwhile, An increase in annuities for married couples is looming.
Retirees are the population group that goes most faithfully to the polls. For example, “The median age of a voter in Switzerland is around 57 years,” says Martina Mousson, political analyst at the GFS.Bern Research Institute. Meanwhile,
The generation of baby boomers, the 60-80 year olds, can therefore largely shape Switzerland according to its own needs.
On the other hand, those who do not have the right to vote or who abstain are disadvantaged. Similarly, These are young people, who vote less often, and foreigners.
The latter are generally tenants, while 44% of Swiss voters and electricities have their own housing. Similarly, Taking into account the entire resident population. Meanwhile, foreign nationals included, the proportion drops by 10%: a third of residents in Switzerland are owners.
>> NWe explain here what rental value is and here camps oppose everything you need to know about the September 28 vote:
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Should Switzerland abolish the rental value? For example,
Here camps oppose
2. The owners against the tenants
here camps oppose
End the rental value system: this has all the ingredients of an electoral campaign. marked by the class struggle.
To schematize, landowners fight against non-owners, that is to say tenants.
Few property owners should vote to change a system that provides them with financial advantages. Last year, a row battle already took place between property owners and tenants.
It concerned two modifications to the right of the lease. seen by the political left as a weakening of the protection of the tenants. In his campaign, the left had warned against an increase in rents and “even higher yields for real estate groups”.
“The prices of the rents exploded (…). the yields obtained by the real estate companies on the back of the tenants only increased,” denounced the Socialist Party (PS), a winning outing of the ballot box in November 2024.
Today, in his campaign for “no”External linkthe party poses here camps oppose the question in these terms: “billions for the richest?” And warns: with the abolition of the rental value, “the tenants pay the high price”.
It is on the same bases that the PS is already preparing its next campaign. He is currently collecting signatures for an “rent initiativeExternal link“Which aims to” end abusive yields “. In the eyes of the left. the question of rental value is therefore ideal for maintaining this theme at the heart of the debate.
For Martina Mousson. it is clear: “The gap between owners and tenants is the main line of fracture in this referendum campaign. It has repercussions on other factors such as age, sex and social status. ”
3. Cities against countryside
The owners live in the countryside, tenants in town. This schematic formula applies to Switzerland as well as to the rest of the world. The reason is the price of the land: it is lower in the countryside, which makes individual houses more affordable.
In Switzerland. the formula also corresponds to the classic left-right scheme: cities tend to be progressive and oriented on the left, while the campaign tends to be conservative and bourgeois.
Martina Mousson recalls that this scheme has already been noted during the vote on the modification of the law on hunting (2020). but also on environmental issues such as the CO₂ law, rejected in 2021. It is particularly pronounced when a bill affects agriculture. as we can see, always in 2021, during pesticide and drinking water initiatives.
4. Tourist areas against urban centers
For Martina Mousson. the gap between cities here camps oppose and campaigns manifest itself in a glaring way around the question of rental value, with marked opposition between tourist areas and urban centers.
Tourist destinations benefit from the current system. The proportion of secondary residences has increased sharply in many mountain areas. which reports big: each second home is subject to a rental value tax, which is paid to the place where property is located.
For many mountain municipalities. there is no question of losing these recipes in the event of the abolition of rental value. This deletion will only be possible in the event of acceptance of a new cantonal tax.
It is not for nothing that the project submitted to vote on September 28 is entitled “Introduction of. a cantonal tax on secondary residencesExternal link“: This is compensation for mountain cantons – others would speak of preferential treatment.
During parliamentary debates, everyone spoke in favor of here camps oppose the modification of the system, with the exception of tourist cantons. In the event of “yes”. they will now be able to collect a tax on second homes, even without rental value.
But, inside the mountain cantons, divisions appeared between the authorities and the people. In 2012. the voters and electricities of these cantons voted against the initiative on second homes, which aimed to limit the proportion of second homes. The recipes had weighed heavier in the scale than the fear of cold beds and ghost villages.
But since then. rents have also increased in these cantons due to the growing number of dwellings put on the market as holiday apartments.
Now faced with a shortage of housing, tourist regions show growing skepticism vis-à-vis holiday apartments. “The mountain population has become aware of the drawbacks linked to the boom of second homes,” says Martina Mousson.
It remains to be here camps oppose seen which system the population will judge the most effective to tax secondary residences: the current system. or a new system that the cantons must still set up.
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Here camps oppose
5. Banks against traders
Two traditionally very close allies adopt divergent positions vis-à-vis the abolition of rental value. Banks wish to maintain this tax, because they benefit from debtor interests. Until now, mortgage interests have been fiscally deductible, which dissuades owners from reimbursing their debts.
Banks make significant benefits thanks to mortgages, which they hardly want to lose. The volume of the mortgage of private households in Switzerland is one of the highest in the world compared. to here camps oppose the gross domestic product (GDP). In 2024, real estate credits amounted to 1271 billion francs, or more than 140% of GDP.
This part continues to grow. According to the Swiss National Bank, it also constitutes a risk of concentration for the national economy.
It is difficult to say to what extent the tax incentives for debt contribute to this record mortgage debt. An estimate of the Moneypark mortgage broker estimates that in the event of acceptance. banks would lose 50 to 150 billion mortgage volume by 2030.
Unlike banks, the commercial sector is divided. The construction and public works sector fears for its renovation contracts and is therefore opposed to the reform. The other branches, on the other hand, count on an increase in purchasing power and consumption.
They constitute the majority of the Swiss Union of Arts. Crafts (USAM), which is why the commercial sector as a whole is here camps oppose favorable to the abolition of this tax.
Text reread and verified by Samuel Jaberg, translated from German by Albertine Bourget/Ptur
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Here camps oppose
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