‘State objectors’ on the rise in Switzerland, survey finds
An increasing number of people in German-speaking Switzerland are refusing to pay their taxes and flooding the administration with letters of complaint, report Swiss public broadcasters RTS and SRF.
This phenomenon has been on the increase since the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to an SRF survey, around 10,000 “state objectors” (“Staatsverweigerer” in German) are active in Switzerland. At the heart of their ideology is a distrust of the state, seen as too powerful an entity that enriches itself at the expense of its citizens.
“The idea is to attack the state, to paralyse it,” Dirk Baier, Director of the Institute for Delinquency and Crime Prevention at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences told RTS on Friday.
“What characterises state objectors is the way in which they justify their actions,” he said. “For example, one of the narratives is to say that the state is a business. So you actively oppose the state and justify it all in a conspiratorial way by saying that the state is too powerful, that some people want to get rich off the community.”
“Terrorism with paper”
As far as the administration is concerned, the actions of state objectors are causing a significant increase in their workload. Baier describes it as “paper terrorism”.
Debt collection offices are the first to be affected by this phenomenon, explains Thomas Winkler, President of the Association of Debt Collection Officials in canton Zurich. “Most of our 57 debt collection agencies have already had dealings with such people.”
Thomas Winkler adds that State objectors “are very happy to lodge complaints”. “Of course, these are unfounded”, he says, but it also takes up a lot of civil servants’ time.
According to Baier, since the Covid-19 pandemic, people who share the ideas of state objectors have strengthened their networking through discussion groups and workshops.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the phenomenon is less visible. However, some debt collection offices in canton Vaud have already been confronted with such practices.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
Switzerland abstains from vote on Palestinian bid for full UN membership
This content was published on
On Friday, Switzerland abstained from the vote at the General Assembly on granting the Palestinians new rights at the United Nations (UN).
Protein in abdominal fat could help shape obesity treatment
This content was published on
The study analysed fat cells from different locations in the body, and found that those in the abdomen have unique properties.
North African asylum claims fall after rapid Swiss processing
This content was published on
The accelerated procedure, now out of its test phase, has resulted in a significant drop in applications from North African countries.
This content was published on
The artist's song "The Code" focuses on their journey as a nonbinary individual. It is one of the favourites to win this year's contest.
Anti-Covid demos attract thousands in Swiss cities
This content was published on
Some 6,000 people have taken to the streets in Geneva and Basel, demonstrating against the government’s efforts to combat Covid-19.
Swiss corona protests: conspiracy theories vs political rights
This content was published on
Switzerland is now well into phase two of its three-stage loosening of Covid-19 restrictions, but this hasn’t stopped citizen protests.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.