Second home owners in Valais are angry: “We want our money back from the municipalities”

class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>

When it comes to tourist taxes at the Aletsch Arena in Valais you can be sure: there is fire under the roof. Some second home owners in the area have been fighting against municipalities’ new tourist tax regulations for years. “Outside” apartment owners feel ripped off. Last year the Federal Court in Lausanne issued a decision. Against society. The previously introduced new regulations need to be revised, as the basis for calculating the tourist tax flat rates is not sufficiently clear. The process continues.

But there are already new problems. This relates to the flat rates of tourist tax collected by second home owners for 2020-2022. At the end of June the Valais government said: It doesn’t work like that. A decision with consequences.

Complaint to the Council of State

Background: An apartment owner from Bettmeralp* protested to the Valais government that he had to pay the above-mentioned fixed rates to the municipality. Position: New tourist tax flat rates should not be requested without valid regulations. The man was right. The decision taken by the Council of State about three months ago was that tourism tax should not be collected according to the flat rate calculation model for the period before November 2022. This means that the authorities should not demand the approximately 1,400 francs that the municipality of Bettmeralp had demanded from the man.

A situation that makes Muhen AG’s Peter Koch (73) hateful. Koch is a representative of the Aletsch interest group and has long been interested in the concerns of second home owners in Fiescheralp. That’s why the Valais government’s decision is groundbreaking.

Refund or offset

According to Peter Koch, this primarily means: “We, second home owners, want our money back from the municipalities for a reasonable period of time.” Aletsch Arena communities are required to have books from the last two years. “Because money was collected without any legal basis.”

However, Koch and other second home owners say they have not heard anything from municipalities in this direction. This particularly bothers the IG chief. “The decision of the Council of State is clear and legally binding,” Koch said.

Moreover, the second homeowner from Aargau can already see the next problem coming. «It won’t be long before flat-rate tourist tax bills arrive in our letterboxes. “But there are still no new regulations in force,” he complains to Blick. This is a huge amount; The local tourist organization wanted to collect about a million francs more per year from second home owners than under the old regulations.

What about community?

Meanwhile, Bettmeralp Municipality, which was the subject of a complaint to the Council of State, is also acting cautiously. Mayor Martial Minnig explains to Blick simply: “The decision of the State Council in the summer of 2023 concerns a single case in our community.” The next steps are currently being clarified. Due to ongoing operations no further information can be provided.

An unsatisfactory answer for IG Chairman Koch. “Communities have a duty to take action” If this does not happen, you need to consider whether you need to lodge an administrative complaint with the cantonal government. This debate doesn’t seem to be over.

*name known

Source :Blick