The case
The National Council decided that the marriage penalty ought to be abolished and that every person can submit their own tax return and pay their own taxes, regardless of their marital status.
The commentary
Yesterday, the National Council passed a bill on individual taxation as an indirect counter-proposal to an initiative.
The bill proposing to abolish the marriage penalty is to be passed on to the Council of States. The one snag might be the cantons, as a change in the tax regime would entail that they would have to reorganise their tax assessments and they would have prepare for around 1.7 million additional tax returns – a fact that is likely to play a more important role in the cantons that it did in the National Council.
In Europe, individual taxation is on the rise – in addition to Switzerland, Cyprus and Greece are also known for their marriage penalty.