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Towel thrown
Top Swiss negotiator resigns
Michael Ambühl, Switzerland’s top diplomat in ongoing tax and banking negotiations with both the United States and countries in Europe, will step down at the end of August, it has been announced. [...]
Swiss politics
The big bad foreigner in poster art
Illegal money
Cabinet drafts unique law on dictators’ assets
Swiss accord
Chinese leader holds out promise of more deals
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang says a free trade accord with Switzerland should serve as an example for closer relations with other European countries. He believes a deal with the Swiss finance industry will also boost the economy in Switzerland. [...]
Free trade accord
Chinese prime minister praises deal with Swiss
Swiss banking woes
Minister says end to US tax dispute in sight
Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf says a resolution may be not far off to end a long-running dispute with the United States over Swiss banks accused of helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars of taxes. [...]
Changes at the top
Surprise shake-up marks Glencore Xstrata meeting
Formula for success
Chinese parents drive baby milk powder boom
Quest for identity
Artist creates his own Japan in Switzerland
My name is David "Takashi" Favrod. I was born on July 2, 1982, in Kobe, Japan, to a Japanese mother and a Swiss father. When I was six months old, my parents decided to come and live in Vionnaz, a small village in the lower Valais. [...]
Basel’s Schola Cantorum
Old music becomes new art
Medical advances
Gender testing to help avoid genetic diseases
A new test called Microsort will allow couples with certain serious hereditary disorders to choose the sex of their baby in order to reduce the chance of passing on an active form of their disease. [...]
Aerial mapping
Successful takeoff for Swiss commercial drones
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In depth
Cut-throat
Fiscal competition – blessing or bane?
4 commentsIn a bid to attract companies and wealthy individuals several countries in Europe as well as some Swiss cantons have reduced tax rates considerably over the past few years. The danger is though that lower taxes can also lead to cuts in public spending and vital services. Is it worth the risk?
There is also nothing that guarantees that firms or rich people will stay if they find a better deal elsewhere. So does it make sense to participate in this race from an economic point of view or is it simply kowtowing to the wealthy and big companies? Let us know what you think.
Tax breaks
Cantons begin to see downside of low tax rates
For years they fought to offer the lowest tax rates but now some cantons in central Switzerland are questioning the wisdom of this rampant tax competition as the population boom that came with it weighs more heavily on local resources. [...]
Showdown
EU wields threat of financial blacklist
Brussels is demanding concrete proposals from Bern for scrapping the generous tax incentives offered to international companies. Yet the pressure from the EU could end up boosting Switzerland’s attractiveness in the long run. [...]
