Cantonal votes: Basel initiative calls for more rights for primates
The residents of the canton of Schaffhausen are voting on two proposals for tax cuts. The “fiscal attractiveness of Schaffhausen as a place to live” aims to motivate more people to live in the canton of Schaffhausen with lower taxes. As part of the second initiative, tax cuts for private individuals and companies are to be implemented by 2024 due to the corona pandemic.
Because Corona had to postpone many operations and hire additional staff, the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital suffered a loss of a good CHF 25 million in 2021. In order to plug this money hole and to ensure the hospital’s existence, the hospital’s share capital is now to be increased by 25.9 million.
With the popular initiative “Basic rights for primates”, the Sentience association is campaigning for over 300 primate species to be given the right to life and physical and mental integrity. These would include, for example, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans.
The climate protection initiative calls for the introduction of a climate law that should enable the marketplace of the Paris climate goals. The agreed goals include stopping global warming at a maximum of 1.5 degrees and achieving net CO2 zero by 2050.
In addition, those responsible for an initiative previously had unlimited time to collect the signatures used. Here, the population of Basel-Land votes on the possible introduction of an 18-month period.
As in Lucerne, many hospitals in the canton of Solothurn have made significant losses over the past two years due to the corona pandemic. Although the Solothurn voters approved the first loan of 16 million francs in spring 2021, in 2020 a Solothurn hospital lost around 41 million francs. Now another loan should cover the remaining defaults.
Oltner vote on tax increase
At the request of the SP, the municipal parliament of Olten passed a tax increase for private individuals from 108 to 110 percent and for companies from 108 to 118 percent. The municipal parliament approved the FDP’s motion to let the electorate decide on the tax increase.
In the canton of Jura, the Greens and the SP are calling for more openness in party financing with the “Transparency Initiative”. In the future, every party, but also election campaign committees and organizations involved in elections, will have to make their donors public.
Moutier: Nobody wants to be in parliament
On Sunday, 13 seats in the city parliament in Moutier are to be filled, but there are no candidates. The elections will be held by majority voting, and there are no lists of selected candidates in advance. In theory, there are quickly 4,500 candidates for the 13 seats. Those who WILL be elected may reject the election, those who accept must stand for re-election in November. Then the entire parliament will be re-elected, the 13 vacant seats were vacated by the change from Moutier to the canton of Jura.
In the future, the canton of Bern will not only tax road vehicles according to their weight, but also according to their CO2 emissions. In the case of motorcycles, engine performance would also be a factor in future that would influence the level of vehicle tax. With this, the Bernese government wants to increase revenue from vehicle tax by CHF 40 million, while individual taxation of residents is to be reduced.
The city of Bern also votes on a partial revision of the municipal building code. This would restrict the short-term rental of second homes in the old town, for example as Airbnb. With this measure, the Bernese government will prevent the resident population from being increasingly pushed out of the old town.
With the template “Housing with priority for the residents”, the Geneva housing law is to be adapted. Anyone who is likely to apply for social housing in Geneva will not only have to pay their taxes in the canton of Geneva, but will also have to have lived in the canton for four years at a time instead of the previous two years.