SVP MP Hannes Germann has proposed that the current CHF 300 duty-free import limit be reduced to discourage Swiss residents from shopping abroad. He has also proposed that car parking regulations in Switzerland be relaxed to stop this from being a decisive factor in customer choice.

Story in Basler Zeitung:
http://bazonline.ch/wirtschaft/konju...story/19310727

The reasons people shop across the border are price and vastly greater selection of goods/groceries...and this measure would address neither of them. So people will be forced to either smuggle or do smaller and more frequent trips across the border and it ultimately will fail at solving the problem they're trying to address.

It was much lower before, 100 IIRC, however by refunding the original VAT and charging 8% in ch it's still a no brainier . It's not as if the shopping experience is better here.

Employing foreign workers at half CH salaries might fix the problem, can't see the SVP going that way!

It's a no brainer financially even if you don't go for the VAT refund.

I can't believe it's worth it financially for the state to process claims - is it really worth 15 minutes of a (CH-salaried) tax accountant to reclaim CHF 25 duty? I imagine they are hoping the harassment of spot checks and time wasted queueing and filling in forms will be the primary deterrent.

The article in BaZ has managed over 250 comments in two hours (which must be some kind of record), nearly all hostile to the plan. I don't expect the SVP were expecting a great vote from BS & BL anyway, but this doesn't look like a vote winner round here.

The Swiss have nothing to do with refunding VAT, it's the company who sold you the goods does that and all the paperwork.

Quark is referring to the payment of Swiss duty. This is, obviously, done by the Swiss customs officials. The refund of the German MWST is done by the shop in Germany (after German customs officials stamp the form to prove export).

Yes, they are being paid to collect money, reducing the limit below 300 chf will increase the cost to CH in mane power for very little return. Think of the no of brainless idiots they could sack if they raised the limit to 5,000!

There was an article in (I believe) Sonntagszeitung some time ago about the arithmetics of customs collection.

According to the article it would be cheaper to abolish duties and quotas on private imports altogether and instead use the money to fund Swiss farmers directly.

It always makes me smile when I pay customs duties at the airport because I know that it is actually not me, but rather the government who are paying for the pleasure to tax me.

Government pays it with your money so It's actually you who's paying for the pleasure of taxing yourself. (twice)

From my experience, the Swiss customs (the guys sitting in the office)seem only too happy to have something to do!
They sit there doing mostly nothing anyway, and being paid for it, so why not collect more money?

Tis the Germans I feel sorry for - depriving their country of their MwSt - and having to stamp countless forms all day long.

I don`t see this lasting long though - border towns on both sides are being deprived of their taxes? (Unless one buys over the Sfr300 limit and pays the swiss tax).

The Co-op chief calls for lowering of the duty free limit owing to shopping tourism whilst declaring no bonuses for staff.

Swissinfo DE

Much easier than lowering their profits. Couldn't we just build a big wall along the Rhine sponsored by Berlin who are looking to dispose of some early 1960s rubble? Watch towers sponsored by Migros and Coop and Aldi and Lidl could support the underground resistance digging tunnels to shopping freedom?

They're going to have to lower it by quite a bit to make shopping in Germany unattractive to the average Swiss:

Swiss consumer magazine, KTipps has, in every issue, a Hochpreis feature comparing Swiss and German prices.

As an example, if you bought Blistex lip balm in Germany and the tax limit was dropped to 100CHF, you could buy 57 tubes of the stuff.

Buying 100CHF worth in Switzerland would only give you 12 tubes.

57 tubes in Switzerland would cost you, not 100CHF, but a whopping lip-smacking 450CHF.

Prices are dm-Markt and Migros.

Nice one Migros!

thanks. i'll remember that the next time i need to buy 57 tubes of Blistex.

Shopping tourism has been keeping the Customs chaps busy

NZZ DE

Lower it to CHF 0, so what?

You will pay 8% VAT, what's the big deal?

Now, if foreign prices were only 8% cheaper, then there would be a point.

There is none.

Tom

This coop chief is a perfect EF member, always ranting and complaining.
He forgets to mention following things:

- a study from Vontobel showed that coop has a higher margin (10.7%) than most retailers in Europe (Tesco, Carrefour and Migros).

- Coop bought TransGourmet last year and this had an impact on the profitability.

It's always easier to play it soviet-style economy: controlling consumer's freedom. Use consumer as scapegoat instead of pointing own bad management decision on the timing of buying TransGourmet.

source: LesFinanches.ch (in french)