>__Thierry Burkart advocates for an immigration levy. He sees it as a tool for better regulation of immigration.__
>FDP President Thierry Burkart has spoken in favor of an immigration levy for Swiss companies in relation to negotiations with the European Union. In the area of free movement of persons, Switzerland could examine such own instruments, he said in an interview with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung.”
>Local companies attract skilled workers from abroad who contribute to prosperity here, Burkart said in the interview published on Monday with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung.”
>At the same time, more people also cause more costs, Burkart explained his reasoning. For example, more teachers and doctors would be needed. “With a levy, it would be up to companies to weigh these advantages and disadvantages,” he said.
>For the FDP President, it is clear that a safeguard clause is needed “which allows Switzerland to effectively regulate immigration.” Here, the EU must accommodate Switzerland. In addition to possible own instruments – like the immigration levy – it is also up to Switzerland to correct misguided incentives.
>__Abolish numerus clausus__
>The numerus clausus for admission to medical studies should, according to Burkart, be abolished. “It cannot be that we make it so difficult for Swiss students to access medical studies and at the same time have to recruit 40 percent of doctors from abroad,” said the party president.
>According to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland and the EU are negotiating “hard but solution-oriented” in the area of free movement of persons. A spokesperson for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) said this to the Keystone-SDA news agency in early July. The negotiations must be pursued intensively. The negotiations between Switzerland and the EU are expected to be concluded by the end of 2024.
Kingmarc568 on
Am i having a stroke or did the FDP not say something stupid for once?
SimonSim211 on
Is it just me, or are they just making everything harder?
“Abolish numerus clausus” but what does that mean in practice? In the UK, you have a filter after the first year of uni, due to quite a few not passing the first year, is that what is wanted?
If we want to annoy the EU, “just” make the Kohäsionsmilliarde go towards groups supporting direct democracy.
Bongo1020 on
Foreigners should also wear special clothes, not be allowed outside after sunset, and be kept at least 500 meters away from our cows lest they curdle their milk!
Every 2st of August (on the 1st, they are under strict curfew), all foreigners must present themselves to the local Cantonal parliament and give thanks for the largesse of the Swiss authorities who bravely receive their taxes.
SegheCoiPiedi1777 on
I think a tax on all kind of non-resident workers would make no sense. That’s because there is actually a shortage of SOME type of personnel, like for example medical personnel. A tax would make the crisis worse.
Counterintuitively, I think taxing the ‘expats’ (I.e. businesspeople / engineers working white collar jobs) from abroad would make sense. That’s because these jobs are basically glorified PowerPoint movers (I know because I have one of these jobs), and when people are let go they have challenges finding something else because the job market is very competitive.
Forcing companies to privilege people that are already in Switzerland would help local unemployment.
In other terms, why does a company need to hire someone that is non-resident, when there are a plethora of 40 and 50 years old out of work that can move boxes on PowerPoint just as well as anyone new coming in from the EU.
That would also find a trend where workers are getting laid off as they age in favor of migrant workers from EU that can be paid significantly less. That puts overall a strain on salaries and the welfare / unemployment system.
In reality anyway it would be difficult to decide where to put the line on what workers are taxed and what not. And also as I am generally against over regulation and the government over reaching, I would probably not be in favor of something like this.
Salty-Layer-4102 on
Then we should also get tax exceptions for the costs we didn’t cause as we didn’t grow up here. As my studies were paid in Spain, I shouldn’t pay for the current cost of education. Fair is fair?
That idea is just blatantly unequal
Slimmanoman on
They could also be subsidized, they are producing wealth without having used as much resources of the state as equivalent swiss workers (not profiting from free education in Switzerland etc)
Anib-Al on
The numerus clausus is also set based on hospitals capacity of training. In addition, Cantons, who are the major contributors to residents docs salaries and training costs, don’t want to spend more. You need to address these issues before waiving the NS…
DeeezNutszs on
More doctors and teachers would be needed? I was thought by teachers in my home country and when possible I fly back for my home country to do health check ups, many people do the same.
Start making life hard for educated immigrants and they will go somewhere else as they have a choice. The uneducated net negatives will stay however
Tendies_From_Paris on
I don’t get it, if I come for abroad to work in Switzerland I’ll pay my taxes in Switzerland to pay for Schools etc why should I pay more ?
moetzen on
Well more people means of course more costs. But more people working in Switzerland means more taxes. Just up the taxes for everyone or maybe just for the company’s and here you go you have more money. No need to have a tax only for foreigners… that’s just racist stuff
_simple_man on
Dass ich dem typ mal würd zuestimme hätt ich au ned denkt
Feeling_Cup928 on
Should the companies or the foreign workers pay for that? Companies need international talents. I think this is not the correct way to regulate
Sufficient-History71 on
FDP is trying to give SVP a competition by going full xenophobic. But the sad truth is nobody loves a carbon copy. I expect FDP to lose their base further.
CloeHernando on
Doesn’t make a ton of sense, neither for FDP policy (they want companies to be able to hire and fire without red tape), nor in any other way (it’s **us** who profits from poaching high performing doctors from Germany with a 5-8 year education that has been paid for by German taxpayers).
I can only imagine this is a purely tactical statement to put pressure on the EU position.
heubergen1 on
Not much of a liberal party anymore, he?
introspectivebrownie on
This country must be looking forward to brain drain. They’ve benefitted long enough from a system that can overpay for really skilled workers and move their country forward.
Common-Frosting-9434 on
Well, I mean, it’s not like we desperatly need health system workers form other countries because nobody here wants to do those jobs anymore….not to speak about how barely any swiss person wants to become a doctor anymore
Welp, shit’s gonna turn so ugly in a few years…but at least we made sure foreign workers know how little they are wanted here…
We deserve the upcoming collapse.
y0sh_1 on
Why is no one actually reading this? Half the comments are people complaining that immigrants would leave if they had to pay more taxes. It’s not the immigrants paying here. It’s companies, and the idea is not half bad if short sighted.
Companies having to pay more if they hire from other countries instead of Swiss citizens is a fair enough idea. I’m always in favour of companies paying more. The problem is that we don’t have enough Swiss citizens for certain jobs. So are companies supposed to pay there as well? If not, who decides whether a Swiss citizen is ‘skilled’ enough for a certain job or not.
As for Numerus Clausus, it has never been the limiting factor for medical studies. On the contrary it’s used to fill our universities to capacity. The ‘passing’ grade on a Numerus Clausus for studying medicine is as far as I know, not a hard number. Let’s say there are 500 spots on Swiss universities to study medicine. The passing grade on the Numerus Clausus in any given year would be the 500th best examinee.
If we want more home-grown doctors, we need to expand our teaching facilities. Teaching medicine is very expensive and just importing doctors is way easier.
Eskapismus on
Left leaning Reddit should support this. The way things work today is that it is cheaper for any company to hire yet another EU dude for whatever position than to pay the market rate of what swiss labour costs. Swiss employers will keep hiring people abroad for as long as it is cheaper to do so. Why bother hiring a 50+ guy if you can simply take another young guy from EU? The shareholders of the Swiss employers will reap the profit – the Swiss transport, social security and health system will have to foot the bill. In other words the costs are externalized – similar to dumping your trash into a river.
If there was an extra cost for the employer to hire people from abroad they would have an incentive to pay higher wages for swiss people or to innovate and make their company more efficient.
benderama2 on
Ah yes so regular border controls it is.
scorpion-hamfish on
Absolute piss-poor article with no useful information.
Or, more likely, it’s just political ragebait so he can read his name in the news.
22 Comments
Translated Article:
>__Thierry Burkart advocates for an immigration levy. He sees it as a tool for better regulation of immigration.__
>FDP President Thierry Burkart has spoken in favor of an immigration levy for Swiss companies in relation to negotiations with the European Union. In the area of free movement of persons, Switzerland could examine such own instruments, he said in an interview with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung.”
>Local companies attract skilled workers from abroad who contribute to prosperity here, Burkart said in the interview published on Monday with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung.”
>At the same time, more people also cause more costs, Burkart explained his reasoning. For example, more teachers and doctors would be needed. “With a levy, it would be up to companies to weigh these advantages and disadvantages,” he said.
>For the FDP President, it is clear that a safeguard clause is needed “which allows Switzerland to effectively regulate immigration.” Here, the EU must accommodate Switzerland. In addition to possible own instruments – like the immigration levy – it is also up to Switzerland to correct misguided incentives.
>__Abolish numerus clausus__
>The numerus clausus for admission to medical studies should, according to Burkart, be abolished. “It cannot be that we make it so difficult for Swiss students to access medical studies and at the same time have to recruit 40 percent of doctors from abroad,” said the party president.
>According to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland and the EU are negotiating “hard but solution-oriented” in the area of free movement of persons. A spokesperson for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) said this to the Keystone-SDA news agency in early July. The negotiations must be pursued intensively. The negotiations between Switzerland and the EU are expected to be concluded by the end of 2024.
Am i having a stroke or did the FDP not say something stupid for once?
Is it just me, or are they just making everything harder?
“Abolish numerus clausus” but what does that mean in practice? In the UK, you have a filter after the first year of uni, due to quite a few not passing the first year, is that what is wanted?
If we want to annoy the EU, “just” make the Kohäsionsmilliarde go towards groups supporting direct democracy.
Foreigners should also wear special clothes, not be allowed outside after sunset, and be kept at least 500 meters away from our cows lest they curdle their milk!
Every 2st of August (on the 1st, they are under strict curfew), all foreigners must present themselves to the local Cantonal parliament and give thanks for the largesse of the Swiss authorities who bravely receive their taxes.
I think a tax on all kind of non-resident workers would make no sense. That’s because there is actually a shortage of SOME type of personnel, like for example medical personnel. A tax would make the crisis worse.
Counterintuitively, I think taxing the ‘expats’ (I.e. businesspeople / engineers working white collar jobs) from abroad would make sense. That’s because these jobs are basically glorified PowerPoint movers (I know because I have one of these jobs), and when people are let go they have challenges finding something else because the job market is very competitive.
Forcing companies to privilege people that are already in Switzerland would help local unemployment.
In other terms, why does a company need to hire someone that is non-resident, when there are a plethora of 40 and 50 years old out of work that can move boxes on PowerPoint just as well as anyone new coming in from the EU.
That would also find a trend where workers are getting laid off as they age in favor of migrant workers from EU that can be paid significantly less. That puts overall a strain on salaries and the welfare / unemployment system.
In reality anyway it would be difficult to decide where to put the line on what workers are taxed and what not. And also as I am generally against over regulation and the government over reaching, I would probably not be in favor of something like this.
Then we should also get tax exceptions for the costs we didn’t cause as we didn’t grow up here. As my studies were paid in Spain, I shouldn’t pay for the current cost of education. Fair is fair?
That idea is just blatantly unequal
They could also be subsidized, they are producing wealth without having used as much resources of the state as equivalent swiss workers (not profiting from free education in Switzerland etc)
The numerus clausus is also set based on hospitals capacity of training. In addition, Cantons, who are the major contributors to residents docs salaries and training costs, don’t want to spend more. You need to address these issues before waiving the NS…
More doctors and teachers would be needed? I was thought by teachers in my home country and when possible I fly back for my home country to do health check ups, many people do the same.
Start making life hard for educated immigrants and they will go somewhere else as they have a choice. The uneducated net negatives will stay however
I don’t get it, if I come for abroad to work in Switzerland I’ll pay my taxes in Switzerland to pay for Schools etc why should I pay more ?
Well more people means of course more costs. But more people working in Switzerland means more taxes. Just up the taxes for everyone or maybe just for the company’s and here you go you have more money. No need to have a tax only for foreigners… that’s just racist stuff
Dass ich dem typ mal würd zuestimme hätt ich au ned denkt
Should the companies or the foreign workers pay for that? Companies need international talents. I think this is not the correct way to regulate
FDP is trying to give SVP a competition by going full xenophobic. But the sad truth is nobody loves a carbon copy. I expect FDP to lose their base further.
Doesn’t make a ton of sense, neither for FDP policy (they want companies to be able to hire and fire without red tape), nor in any other way (it’s **us** who profits from poaching high performing doctors from Germany with a 5-8 year education that has been paid for by German taxpayers).
I can only imagine this is a purely tactical statement to put pressure on the EU position.
Not much of a liberal party anymore, he?
This country must be looking forward to brain drain. They’ve benefitted long enough from a system that can overpay for really skilled workers and move their country forward.
Well, I mean, it’s not like we desperatly need health system workers form other countries because nobody here wants to do those jobs anymore….not to speak about how barely any swiss person wants to become a doctor anymore
Welp, shit’s gonna turn so ugly in a few years…but at least we made sure foreign workers know how little they are wanted here…
We deserve the upcoming collapse.
Why is no one actually reading this? Half the comments are people complaining that immigrants would leave if they had to pay more taxes. It’s not the immigrants paying here. It’s companies, and the idea is not half bad if short sighted.
Companies having to pay more if they hire from other countries instead of Swiss citizens is a fair enough idea. I’m always in favour of companies paying more. The problem is that we don’t have enough Swiss citizens for certain jobs. So are companies supposed to pay there as well? If not, who decides whether a Swiss citizen is ‘skilled’ enough for a certain job or not.
As for Numerus Clausus, it has never been the limiting factor for medical studies. On the contrary it’s used to fill our universities to capacity. The ‘passing’ grade on a Numerus Clausus for studying medicine is as far as I know, not a hard number. Let’s say there are 500 spots on Swiss universities to study medicine. The passing grade on the Numerus Clausus in any given year would be the 500th best examinee.
If we want more home-grown doctors, we need to expand our teaching facilities. Teaching medicine is very expensive and just importing doctors is way easier.
Left leaning Reddit should support this. The way things work today is that it is cheaper for any company to hire yet another EU dude for whatever position than to pay the market rate of what swiss labour costs. Swiss employers will keep hiring people abroad for as long as it is cheaper to do so. Why bother hiring a 50+ guy if you can simply take another young guy from EU? The shareholders of the Swiss employers will reap the profit – the Swiss transport, social security and health system will have to foot the bill. In other words the costs are externalized – similar to dumping your trash into a river.
If there was an extra cost for the employer to hire people from abroad they would have an incentive to pay higher wages for swiss people or to innovate and make their company more efficient.
Ah yes so regular border controls it is.
Absolute piss-poor article with no useful information.
Or, more likely, it’s just political ragebait so he can read his name in the news.