In 2010, 73 percent of Swiss citizens rejected the plan to reform the pension funding system in a popular vote. And yet, with the decrease in the number of working people contributing to the federal old-age and survivors’ insurance scheme (Assurance Vieillesse et Survivants – AVS) and the declining profits of the capitals going into the “2nd pillar” of the Swiss pension funding system, around 2020, the accounts of the Swiss pension scheme will be in the red. Therefore, the Federal Council asked Interior Minister Alain Berset to prepare a new draft reform, which he did on June 21. The project rejects the increase in retirement age to 67 to increase retirement age from 64 up to 65 for women only. It also provides for a 2-point VAT increase, more part-time early retirement, lower annuities for funded pension schemes, as well as early retirement with no cut for the lowest wages if they have paid contributions for at least 20 years. The bill should be finalized by the end of the year but it is subject to heated debates. (Ref. 130450)
Maintaining pension levels is subject to debate. The proposal presented by Philipp Müller, President of the FDP liberal party, in the Sunday edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on June 30, made quite a few people jump with anger. “When you get close to retirement age, you don’t need as much money as you did when you started working, for instance when you were responsible for a family,” he explained.
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