Switzerland rejects Carbon Tax for VAT

The voters of Switzerland this weekend rejected a proposal to replace Swiss VAT with a Carbon Tax. The vote was promoted by the Green Party.

The carbon tax would have targeted the use of heating fuel, petroel, diesel etc., with further tax breaks on households using solar and other renewables energy sources. The Swiss government recommended voting against the proposal, stating it was unworkable, and unlikely to raise the CHF 20 billion that the current 8% Swiss VAT raises each year. The plebiscite, ‘Energy rather than VAT’ was rejected by over 90% of the voters.

The Swiss constitution permits nation-wide votes for proposal which gain over 100,000 public signatures.