Aargauer goes to federal court over estate tax

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The procedure violates the principle of equal treatment. The Federal Supreme Court came to this conclusion in an important decision released Friday.

The applicant owns agricultural land valued by the tax authorities at CHF 151. For 2019, the municipality billed him 25 CHF as property tax.

This is a minimum tax levied only on owners who do not live in the municipality. This is due to the decision of the Federal Supreme Court. For local residents, the tax is one thousandth of the property value. As an Upper Valais, Aargau would only have to pay 15 cents in tax.

The municipal and cantonal tax appeal commission justified this distinction by the concern that non-residents must contribute to infrastructure costs even if their property is undervalued. Residents would already contribute through income tax, wealth tax, and jizya tax.

The Federal Supreme Court has ruled that the place of residence of the owner of a property is not an appropriate criterion for tax assessment. Residents who do not pay income or wealth taxes and are exempt from the jizya tax will contribute little to infrastructure costs if they own low-value properties.

From this, the Swiss highest court concludes that the place of residence is unimportant in determining the contribution to the municipal budget. In these circumstances, the difference in treatment between the two categories of owners is not justified. Therefore, the evaluation is canceled and the matter returns to the municipality. (SDA)

Source : Blick