Maurer drives industry and SVP colleague to the cart

Finance Minister Ueli Maurer (71) is dissatisfied with the federal financial situation. He wants to improve the federal account balance with a quick-fix exercise. Therefore, Maurer does not intend to implement the already decided abolition of industrial tariffs in 2024, but only later. For example, 500 million Swiss francs in customs duties would continue to flow into his treasury every year.

This caused dissatisfaction with Maurer’s party colleague, Minister of Economic Affairs Guy Parmelin (62). With the reform, he hopes economic power will recover after the pandemic, as businesses could benefit from cheaper imports.

Parmelin made no secret of his displeasure during a meeting with the State Commission on Economy and Taxation (WAK). WAK-S promptly made Maurer’s plans public. “It doesn’t work like that! You can’t just change the date at such short notice,” says WAK-S chairman Alex Kuprecht (64, SVP). The economy depends on the shelter.

Less office work expected

It was not until February that the Federal Council announced that industrial tariffs would fall on January 1, 2024. The business umbrella, Economiesuisse, celebrated and calculated that companies would save CHF 100 million in administrative costs and look forward to CHF 350 million lower consumer prices. According to his model calculations, this should increase the gross domestic product by CHF 860 million.

Unsurprisingly, news of the potential reform delay is slowing down the industry. “Preparatory work at the companies involved has been going on for a long time,” Swissmem vice director Jean-Philippe Kohl (56) told Blick. For example, IT systems, but also contracts for this have been adapted, because companies have assumed that they can introduce cheaper products and materials from 2024. “If the tariffs are really not abolished as announced, it could mean the loss of customers and the loss of confidence in Swiss companies,” Kohl fears.

Proposal from the financial administration

In the autumn of 2021, parliament decided that Swiss tariffs on imported goods outside the agricultural and fishing sectors should be abolished. We speak of industrial tariffs, but also tariffs on clothing, shoes and vehicles are meant. In 2018, tariffs of 540 million flowed into the federal treasury of these imported products, more than half of which were attributable to the textile, clothing and footwear sectors.

The administration has long been discussing Maurer’s project. This is one of the reasons why Blick asked the treasurer in September if he wanted to postpone the reform: “Nothing has been decided yet, and the Bundesrat has not yet thought about it,” he said at the time. It is a suggestion from the financial authorities on how to deal with any budgetary bottlenecks.

The government is likely to raise the issue again at its next meeting.