Category Archive: 3.) Personal Finance

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The global brands artificially inflating their prices on Swiss versions of their websites

2025-03-14

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2025-03-14

It is well known that the Swiss are overcharged for nearly everything. However, when products are being sent from a warehouse outside Switzerland one would expect the pre-tax price to be the same. This is rarely the case. The Romande Consumer Federation (FRC) has looked at a number of brands and found unjustifiable price differences as high as 93%. © Casimirokt | Dreamstime.com The FRC found an average price difference of +35% on...

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Swiss health insurance set to rise further in 2025

2024-09-27

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2024-09-27

This week, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, Switzerland’s Health Minister, announced health insurance premiums will rise by an average of 6% in 2025 to CHF 378.70 a month. However, the range of the increase varies from 1.5% to 10.5% depending on the canton of residence.

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Switzerland’s marriage tax penalty back in the spotlight

2024-02-25

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2024-02-25

Married couples in Switzerland are taxed together, unlike unmarried couples who are taxed individually. This often acts as a tax disincentive for one spouse to work, disproportionately affecting women.

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More than 17,000 drivers fined in a month on one Zurich street

2024-02-24

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2024-02-24

At the end of September 2023, driving was banned on a 60 metre section of Langstrasse in Zurich. To enforce the ban, cameras were later set up on 8 January 2024 to catch and fine errant drivers. Since then 17,310 fines have been issued.

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Swiss government deficit larger than predicted

2024-02-17

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2024-02-17

The federal government spent less in 2023 than budgeted but overestimated revenue. The net effect was an additional shortfall of CHF 1.4 billion, reported SRF.

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Price cuts on 350 medicines in Switzerland

2023-11-03

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2023-11-03

With the ever rising cost of of Swiss healthcare, the government has been hunting for savings. This week it announced that it has ordered price cuts on 350 medicines from 1 December 2023, reported RTS.

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Swiss inflation returns in October

2023-11-03

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2023-11-03

Consumer prices increased by 0.1% in October 2023, reported Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) this week.

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Proposal for budget Swiss health insurance

2023-05-12

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2023-05-12

Last weekend, the PLR/FDP unveiled a plan to create a budget low cost health insurance option in Switzerland, reported RTS.

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Switzerland needs to be able to recharge 2.8 million vehicles

2023-05-12

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2023-05-12

This week, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) published its predictions and ambitions for electric transport infrastructure.

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Switzerland to tax electric vehicles from 2024

2023-04-11

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2023-04-11

Vehicles imported into Switzerland are subject to a 4% tax, with the exception of electric vehicles that attract none. This week, the government decided to end the exception from the beginning of next year.

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Swiss government aims to cut 2 billion from 2024 budget

2023-01-27

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2023-01-27

Like many governments across the world, Switzerland’s federal government is spending more than it collects. Extraordinary spending on Covid and refugees has pushed Switzerland’s finances into the red, a situation Karin Keller-Sutter, the current finance minister, hopes to eliminate by 2024.

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Retirement at 68.2 to cover Swiss pension shortfall, says UBS

2023-01-26

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2023-01-26

Swiss resident’s are regularly reminded of the large financial gap is Switzerland’s state pension system. Despite this, several attempts at reform have failed to gain sufficient support. Those that have still leave a large shortfall. On 24 January 2023, UBS published four additional reform scenarios. Only the fourth, with a life expectancy adjusted retirement age of 68.2 years eliminates the current projected shortfall.

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Electricity prices could rise more in 2024, suggests head of Swiss regulator

2023-01-21

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2023-01-21

At a meeting in Bern on 19 January 2023, Werner Luginbühl, the head of Elcom, Switzerland’s electricity regulator, called on the sector to be careful to manage consumer expectations, reported RTS.

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Swiss rents and property prices up in 2022

2023-01-10

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2023-01-10

A sharp rise in rent in December 2022 (+1.1%) left the average Swiss rent 4.3% higher than at the beginning of 2022, according to the Swiss Real Estate Offer Index, published on 4 January 2023 by SMG Swiss Marketplace Group. This annual jump of 4.3% exceeds the annual CPI increase of 2.8% announced this week.

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Bern against federal plan to subsidise health insurance 

2022-12-05

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2022-12-05

A federal initiative aimed at subsidising health insurance premiums once they exceed 10% of disposable income met with resistance in Bern this week, reported RTS.

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No rise in Switzerland’s rent rate

2022-12-03

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2022-12-03

Every three months the rate of interest used to set the rents in Switzerland is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. If it goes up landlords can push up rents. This time the rate remained at 1.25%, however it looks set to rise next year.

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Pay rise agreed for Switzerland’s public sector workers

2022-12-02

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2022-12-02

On 2 December 2022, Switzerland’s Federal Council agreed to boost the salaries of those working for the federal government by 2.5% in 2023.

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Inter-cantonal tax transfers to rise 5 percent in 2023

2022-11-19

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2022-11-19

On 16 November 2022, Switzerland’s federal government announced the sums that will be transferred between the nation’s statelets or cantons in 2023, a mechanism aimed at ensuring wealthy cantons support those with weaker economies.

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Vote on pension reform most divisive in Swiss history

2022-11-12

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2022-11-12

Switzerland’s recent vote on state pension reform on 25 September 2022, divided men and women, reported RTS.

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Swiss construction workers protest over hours and pay

2022-11-12

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2022-11-12

After construction workers went out on strike for two days in French-speaking Switzerland, construction workers protested in Zurich over hours and pay on 11 November 2022, reported RTS. Photo by Rodolfo Quirós on Pexels.comWith inflation in Switzerland running at 3%, construction workers are demanding higher pay. However, the construction industry has responded with an offer of better pay tied to higher maximum hours. The industry would like...

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