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Solidarity tax on rich Swiss extended due to coronavirus

Switzerland’s solidarity tax, levied on the wealthiest Swiss, will be extended by at least a year due to a revenue shortfall caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Solidarity tax on rich Swiss extended due to coronavirus
Wealthy Swiss will have to pay more under the plan. Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

According to Swiss news outlet Watson, the tax has been extended in order to avoid a one billion franc budget shortfall in Switzerland’s unemployment fund. 

Pursuant to the tax, anyone earning more than 126,000 francs per year has to pay a ‘solidarity contribution’ as well as the other mandatory social contributions. 

The tax levied is 0.5 percent of the wage, with employers paying a further 0.5 percent. 

READ: Switzerland's strangest taxes – and what happens if you don't pay them

 

‘Sad news’

The tax, first implemented in 2011, was to expire in 2021 – however Boris Zürcher, head of the Labor Directorate at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), told SRF on Wednesday that it would be extended indefinitely. 

According to SECO, the tax has erased billions of debt from Switzerland’s unemployment fund. 

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic has however forced more and more Swiss to apply for unemployment benefits, meaning that the tax will now be continued. 

Zürcher told the public broadcaster that the extension of the tax was “sad news”. 

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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