Military, e-cars, nurseries: Keller-Sutter brings down Sparhammer

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Dark clouds are gathering in the financial sky. Last year, the federal government was faced with a deficit of billions. And for this year it looks no better with a minus of about 7 billion francs, according to the current estimate. Red figures are also programmed for the coming years.

Cuts are therefore announced – and FDP Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (59) sets the pace. Now the bargain hunter puts her final plans on the table. The 2024 budget provides for an expenditure of almost 90 billion francs! The funding gap is CHF 6.7 billion. Extraordinary expenses are also booked here, such as the rescue package for the electricity industry worth 4 billion francs, which from today’s perspective hardly needs to be claimed.

But even without extraordinary expenses, the ordinary budget is still minus CHF 500 million. The Bundesrat has gone through the books in recent months and cut costs in many places. To prevent the federal government from sinking even further into the red, Keller-Sutter is also sending a new austerity package for consultation. Blick shows in which areas the savings hammer is swung the most.

The army budget is expected to increase in the coming years. But not as soon as advised by Parliament. The latter would like to give at least 1 percent of gross domestic product to the army from 2030, but the Federal Council wants to extend the deadline to 2035. In the coming years, the army budget would therefore increase by CHF 300 to 800 million less than previously planned. Resistance has already been announced in civilian circles. Even though it remains on a slower course, the increase is impressive. From about CHF 5.5 billion today to a whopping CHF 10.7 billion in 2035.

Today, widows and widowers are treated unequally in the AHV. For example, there is a pension for childless widows, but not for childless widowers. The Bundesrat wants to eliminate this unequal treatment. In the future, there should only be a widow’s pension until the children are no older than 25 years. The interior department presented benchmarks on Wednesday and will present a template for consultation in the autumn. The federal government must lose at least 100 million Swiss francs annually from 2026. The AHV fund must spend at least 500 million francs less annually. In 2035, the relief should be 160 or 810 million.

With the introduction of a car tax on electric vehicles, the Federal Council has also decided on revenue-related measures. From 2024, this will cost CHF 180 million per year. However, since the tax goes into the national road fund, the federal government wants to put less money from the mineral oil tax into the fund. The bottom line is that the federal government is saving CHF 130 to 150 million per year.

The federal contribution to unemployment insurance will be reduced by 250 million per year for a limited period of five years. This is also because the ALV coffers are currently well stocked with about 9 billion francs and, despite less federal money, should be endowed with more than 13 billion francs in 2029.

The Bundesrat wants to reduce the contribution to the railway infrastructure fund by at least 150 million annually over a period of three years. The planned expansion of the infrastructure should not be questioned, as emphasized by the Bundesrat. In the future, the resources of the LSVA must flow fully into the fund until the reserves are at least 300 million. The deposit can only be reduced if this limit is reached.

The National Council would like to spend more money on additional childcare. If the first year was started with CHF 800 million, the federal contribution would continue to increase in the following years. The Bundesrat opposes this. If that is the case at all, a maximum of half of the money should be spent on financing day care centres. In addition, the cantons should contribute more by reducing the share of the cantons in the direct federal tax by 200 to 300 million annually.

The weakly bound expenditures will be linearly reduced by 2 percent. This relieves the federal budget by about CHF 500 million. The military is exempt from the cut.

Despite these savings proposals, the Bundesrat expects structural funding shortfalls of CHF 300 million to CHF 1.2 billion per year for the years 2025 to 2027. That is why we are already working on the next austerity package.

Source:Blick