Trade association opposes SRG double tax and launches "Pay once is enough" campaign
The SRG initiative «200 Francs Is Enough!» calls not only for a reduction in the media license fee for households to 200 francs but also for the abolition of the media tax for businesses. The initiative’s organizers are now receiving support from the business community. The Swiss Trade Association (sgv) is mobilizing with its own digital campaign, «Paying once is enough!».
Swiss companies currently pay CHF 180 million a year to the SRG. The industry criticizes this levy as an unfair and unlawful double burden. Abolishing it would free up funds for investment in real values: In apprenticeships, employee training or cybersecurity. This would benefit the whole of Switzerland, writes the trade association in a press release.
According to the trade association, Swiss companies are subject to disproportionate double taxation when financing SRG: employees pay the Serafe fee privately via their household, while companies must also pay a turnover-based media levy to SRG - regardless of whether SRG services are used in the company. The fee is effectively a tax and violates the principle of economic performance and the prohibition of arbitrariness.
Particularly affected: SMEs with high turnover and low margins
SMEs with high turnover and low margins are particularly affected. Pierre Daniel Senn, garage owner and Vice President of the Swiss Trade Association (sgv), says: "This unfair tax must go now. We are paying many times more today than we did ten years ago." Daniela Schneeberger, Vice President of the sgv and trustee, also criticizes the tax: "This is an unfair tax - especially as the Federal Supreme Court has clearly ruled that it is unlawful."
President Regazzi: "Why do we entrepreneurs pay 180 million a year to SRG?"
Fabio Regazzi, President of the Swiss Trade Association and owner of a metal construction company with apprentices, emphasizes the scale of the burden: "Someone should explain to me why we entrepreneurs should pay 180 million francs a year to the SRG when we don't consume SRG. I, for example, would prefer to invest the several thousand francs that our company pays in SRG tax each year in apprentice support or employee training. That would be a valuable investment and that's why it's absolutely clear to me: paying twice as much for the same thing is too much, paying once is enough!"
Taxation is "unconstitutional"
Back in 2019, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the SRG's degressive tariff structure for companies was unconstitutional. The "CHF 200 is enough!" initiative eliminates the unconstitutional situation, completely relieves companies and reduces the Serafe fee for households from CHF 335 to CHF 200. This will reduce what is currently the highest TV and radio fee in the world. Neither the SRG nor the public service will be abolished. SRG would still have almost one billion francs at its disposal even after the initiative is accepted.
