3/18 project

Taxation in Switzerland

Switzerland person income Tax Individual income tax rates in Switzerland consist of Swiss federal, cantonal and communal taxes. While the maximum rate of federal tax rate is 11.5%, adding the cantonal and communal taxes the total tax burden on individuals change between 22.42% - 42.28% depending on canton.Other Taxes includes Income Taxes and property taxes.

Income Tax: Taxable income includes all funds accruing to a person from all sources, in principle without deduction of losses or expenses, and including the rental value of a house lived in by its owner. Non-working foreigners resident in Switzerland may choose to pay a "lump-sum tax" instead of the normal income tax. The tax, which is generally much lower than the normal income tax, is nominally levied on the taxpayer's living expenses, but in practice (which varies from canton to canton), it is common to use the quintuple of the rent paid by the taxpayer as a basis for the lump-sum taxation.^[18] This option contributes to Switzerland's status as a tax haven, and has induced many wealthy foreigners to live in Switzerland.

In 2011, the federal income tax varied from a bracket of 1% (for single tax payers) and 0.77% (for married taxpayers) to the maximum rate of 11.5%. Individuals earning below 13,600 and couples earning below 27,000 Swiss francs were exempt. On cantonal level, tax rates varies heavily,Obwalden adapted a 1.8% flat tax on all personal income following a cantonal referendum in 2007. In most cantons, the rate is proportional with a maximum rate of 6.5% in Bern, whereas in Zurich it was 13% and in Geneva 17.58-.76 %

Property Taxes: A proportional property tax of around 0.3 to 0.5 percents levied by the cantons on the net worth of natural persons. The tax is levied on the value of all assets (such as real estate, shares or funds) after the deduction of any debts

Profit Taxes: A proportional or progressive tax is levied by the Confederation (at a flat rate of 8.5%) and the cantons (at varying rates) on corporate profits. The tax is based on the net profit as accounted for in the corporate income statement, as adjusted for tax purposes. For instance, expenditures that have no business reason such as excessive depreciations, accruals or reserves, as well as disguised dividends are taxed as profits.

Capital Taxes: A proportional tax is levied by the cantons (at varying rates) on the ownership equity of companies. Thinly capitalised companies are taxed, moreover, on the liabilities that function as equity. This also means that debts paid on such liabilities cannot be deducted for purposes of the profit tax, and are subject to the federal withholding tax.

03/05/13 project

Da Switzerland

Government type

Switzerland features a system of government not seen in any other nation direct representation, sometimes called half-direct democracy.

Amendments of the Federal Constitution of Switzerland, the joining of international organizations or changes to federal laws that have no foundation in the constitution but if in force for more than one year must be approved by the majority of both the people and the canton.

Any citizen may challenge a law that has been passed by parliament. If that person is able to gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days, a national vote has to be scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority of the voters whether to accept or reject the law.

Also, any citizen may seek a decision on an amendment they want to make to the constitution. For such an amendment initiative to be organised, the signatures of 100,000 voters must be collected within 18 months. Such a popular initiative is formulated as a precise new text (general proposal initiatives have been canceled in 2009 whose wording can no longer be changed by parliament and the government. After a successful signature gathering, the federal council may create a counterproposal to the proposed amendment and put it to vote on the same day as the original proposal. Such counter-proposals are usually a compromise between the status quo and the wording of the initiative. Voters will decide in a national vote whether to accept the initiative amendment, the counter proposal put forward by the government if any, or both. If both are accepted, one has to additionally signal a preference. Initiatives (that are of constitutional level) have to be accepted by a double majority of both the popular votes and a majority of the cantons, while counter-proposals may be of legislative level and hence require only simple majority.

Other information's

Swisscom AG is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Along with Swiss Post, it is a successorcompany to the former state-owned PTT. Its headquarters are located at Worblaufen near Bern. The Swiss Confederation owns 56.94 percent of Swisscom

RUAG (originally Rüstungs Unternehmen Aktiengesellschaft; Joint Stock Defense Comapny) is a Swisstechnology company, with its headquarters in Bern. It has production sites in Switzerland , Germany , Sweden, Hungary  and Austria and USA , and sales companies in UK, France, Belgium, Brasil and Malaysia.

Skyguide is the air navigation service provider which manages and monitors Swiss airspace. Skyguide is a joint-stock company under Swiss private law which is responsible, on behalf of the Swiss Confederation, for ensuring the safety of all Swiss airspace and of adjoining airspace areas in Germany, Austria, France and Italy that have been delegated to its control. For Swiss airspace, this duty extends to both civil and military air navigation services. Skyguide is subject to the supervisory authority of the Swiss Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). Its principal shareholder is the Swiss Confederation, which holds 99.91% of the company’s share capital.

Gun politics in Switzerland are unique in Europe. Switzerland does not have a standing army, instead opting for a people's militia for its national defense. The vast majority of men between the ages of 20 and 30 are conscripted into the militia and undergo military training, including weapons training. The personal weapons of the militia are kept at home as part of the military obligations; Switzerland thus has one of the highest militia gun ownership rates in the world. In recent times a minority of political opposition has expressed a desire for tighter gun regulations.

Project 02/18

Jason Lee

Econ

Mr. Schaffer

02/17/13

Unemployment in Switzerland and the reason behind it

For a number of years unemployment, at under 1%, was hardly an issue in Switzerland
Several reasons have been suggested for this stability Foreign workers with short-term permits absorbed the impact when economic times were bad Businesses did their best not to make workers redundant during periods of crisis, in order not to endanger the agreements ensuring social peace. There are few "problem" industries (mining, metallurgy) in Switzerland.However, during the economic recession of the 1990s, the number of jobless rose dramatically, reaching the record level of 5.7% in February 1997 as corporate restructuring led to staff cuts.A gradual upturn in the economy at the end of the 90s, and a change in the way the figures were calculated, caused the level of registered unemployed to fall to 1.7% in 2001.Since then the rate has fluctuated. At the end of 2007 it stood at 2.8%.Unemployment rates vary according to region: the French and Italian speaking areas have higher rates than the German-speaking ones. Women tend to be worse affected than men and foreigners worse affected than Swiss.

The Swiss central bank does not hesitate to engage in sophisticated schemes of quantitative easing when an appreciating exchange rate is squeezing their export industries or they otherwise face unpleasant macroeconomic situations.

Unemployment Rate in Switzerland increased to 3.40 percent in January of 2013 from 3.30 percent in December of 2012. Unemployment Rate in Switzerland is reported by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. Historically, from 1995 until 2013, Switzerland Unemployment Rate averaged 3.36 Percent reaching an all time high of 5.40 Percent in March of 1997 and a record low of 1.60 Percent in November of 2000. In Switzerland, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labor force. This page includes a chart with historical data for Switzerland Unemployment Rate.

In January of 2013, 148 thousand people were registered as unemployed with the regional employment offices (RFOs) or 5 thousand more than in the previous month. The unemployment rate increased from 3.3 percent in December of 2012 to 3.4 percent in the month under review.  http://www.swissworld.org/en/economy/workers_and_jobs/unemployment/ http://www.indexmundi.com/switzerland/unemployment_rate.html http://www.tradingeconomics.com/switzerland/unemployment-rate

Project 2

The inflation rate in Switzerland was recorded at -0.40 percent in December of 2012. Historically,from 1956 until 2012, Switzerland Inflation Rate averaged 2.66 Percent reaching an all time high of 11.92 Percent in December of 1973 and a record low of -1.37 Percent in June of 1959. In Switzerland, the inflation rate measures a broad rise or fall in prices that consumers pay for a standard basket of goods.

 

Swiss index of consumer prices declined 0.3% in November of 2012 compared to the previous month. On an annual basis, inflation was -0.4%. The decline in the index of consumer prices in November 2012 was primarily due to declines in the price of fuel and oil, housing rents and food. Price indices also fell for transports (-1.0%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (-0.8%), communications (-0.5%), housing and energy (-0.4%), clothing and footwear (-0.4%), household equipment and routine maintenance (-0.3%) and hotels and restaurants (-0.1%). However, there was an increase on the price index of alcoholic beverages and tobacco (0.6%), recreation and culture (0.2%) and other goods and services (0.2%). The change in the price index for health was recorded at 0%. the prices of domestic products fell by 0.1% compared to the previous month. Of those, the imported goods fell by 0.9%. On an annual basis, the prices of domestic products rose 0.1%, while those of imported products were down 1.6%. The decline in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages is largely due to lower prices for vegetables (including cucumbers, courgettes and aubergines), sausages, citrus fruits, powdered soups, pasta, chocolate and cheese. After several decreases in the previous months, it was recorded a price increase for pastries, bakeries and other grain products. The index of communications declined primarily due to lower prices for communications over the mobile network. In housing and energy, the index decline is explained by lower oil prices (-4.1%; reference days: 2 and 15 November) and the Rental Housing (-0.2%). The clothing and footwear group reported a lower index due to promotional offers practiced mainly on women's shoes.

Project day 1

Jason Lee
Econ
Mr.Scaffer
1/20/13

Switzerland

    Switzerland, with its small size and high labor specialization uses trading as its main economic source. Because of this Switzerland mainly rely on export, main industry includes machinery, chemical, watches and textile.  "Switzerland had the highest average wealth per adult at US$540,000, making Swiss residents the richest in the world. During 1940s, particularly during World War II the economy profited from the increased export and delivery of weapons to the German Reich. However, Switzerland's energy consumption decreased rapidly. The conduct of the banks cooperating with the Nazis  and the commercial relations with the axis powers during the war became the subject of sharp criticism, resulting in a short period of international isolation of Switzerland from the world. After World War II, Switzerland's production facilities remained to a great extent undamaged which facilitated the country's swift economic resurgence.

In the 1950s, annual GDP growth averaged 5% and Switzerland's energy consumption doubled. Coal lost its rank as Switzerland's primary energy source, as other fossil fuels such as crude and refined oil and natural and refined gas imports increased. This decade also marked the transition from an industrial economy to a service economy. Since then the service sector has been growing faster than the agrarian and industrial sectors.

In the 1960s, annual GDP growth averaged 4% and Switzerland's energy consumption doubled. By the end of the decade oil was Switzerland's primary energy source.

In the 1970s GDP growth rates gradually declined from a peak of 6.5% in 1970 until contracting 7.5% in 1975 and 1976. Switzerland became increasingly dependent on oil imported from its main supplier, the OPEC cartel. The 1973 international oil crisis caused Switzerland's energy consumption to decrease from 1973 to 1977. In 1974 there were three nationwide car-free Sundays when private transport was prohibited as a result of the oil supply shock. From 1977 on wards GDP grew, however Switzerland was also affected by the 1979 energy crisis which resulted in a short term decrease of Switzerland's energy consumption.

In the 1980s, Switzerland was affected by the hike in oil prices which resulted in a decrease of energy consumption until 1982 when the economy contracted by 1.3%. From 1983 on both GDP and energy consumption grew."

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Switzerland

Thanksgiving HW

Jason Lee
Mr. Schaffer
Econ
2012/11/26


                                                                      Digital wallet

Referring to an article on The Economist " War of virtual wallet",           credit card company's join together to form a united payment method called "digital wallet". Which I personally think its a great idea. With this costumer not longer have to put their information with every payment, they simply just enter their username and password when purchasing an item. We learned about how technology is a determinants for supply, in the article it explains how in this technology advance world moving payments online would bring more costumer.  Once many card payments are joined together, discounts or coupons could be easier distributed between the costumer, which is very convenient when it comes to holidays or big sales.  With this people will be able to get hold of their payment much easier than  before .Now days with app on smart phones which provides many use such as this digital wallet. Your personal phone can be where you purchase items, right in your hands. Through this I believe that not only the firms would benefits form but also the costumer would benefit from it.

hw 11/6

Jason Lee

Mrs Schaffer

Econ

2012/11/05
                                                                 Starbucks vs Folgers


                 
                  In my situation I have never  tried Folgers coffee therefor I would not have a demand curve for Folgers coffee. By looking at the price at Walmart  Folgers coffee appears to be more affordable then Starbucks coffee. Now just by looking at the prices, for a average person it seems to be more likely to purchase Folgers coffee rather than Starbucks due to the price. But when your income rises, buying Starbucks coffee doesn't affect as much as before then demand for Starbucks would increase. When buying Starbucks coffee is same as buying Folgers coffee, the demand for Folgers will decrease.  In this case the inferior goods would be Folgers coffee and the normal goods would be Starbucks coffee. When your income did not increase, you will purchase Folgers coffee because it is more afforded. Starbucks on the other hand would be to expensive to  purchase on a daily basic. Therefor the demand curve for Folgers coffee decreases when your income rises because it is not a issue to purchase the better coffee. On the other hand the demand curve for Starbucks will increase. Remember that this outcome accounts only price, other determent-ant such as taste would also affect the demand curve.