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Self-employed restaurateurs, taxi drivers and event entrepreneurs were able to make little to no money this year – the closure and other restrictions robbed them of their income. However, unlike salaried employees, they are not entitled to part-time compensation. In order not to bring them to social welfare, the federal government created the income replacement instrument.
Since mid-March, the self-employed who are restricted in their work due to the crown have been receiving 80 percent of their previous income from the income replacement plan. To date, around 140,000 applications have been received and, according to the Federal Social Security Office, the costs so far amount to 1.9 billion Swiss francs.
They used to win well
The liberal think tank Avenir Suisse now wants to end this. In an article published on Friday, he suggests that high-income freelancers like doctors should replace their lost income during the crisis with their old-age provision, either from the pension fund (if they have it) or the 3rd pillar.
“There are freelancers who have earned very well in previous years and have been able to save a lot,” says research director Jürg Müller. “To overcome current liquidity bottlenecks, you should be able to withdraw some of your pension capital.” To ensure there are no gaps in pensions in the future, the contributions drawn should be easy to repay later, Müller says.
Others should get less
What about the self-employed who have never made enough money to save retirement capital? They should receive a “very limited income replacement,” less than today. And “to further reduce disincentives”, they should then, when things improve, return part of the services received.
Avenir Suisse does not hide that it is not about maintaining structures that would not be viable in the long term anyway. “Companies have to constantly adapt and improve. This unstoppable change must not be slowed down at the expense of taxpayers. Because: In the end, our prosperity is based on this progress, ”says Müller.
The think tank cites the tourism industry as an example: especially providers that are geared towards guests from abroad could be affected by a drop in demand for a long time. “A structural change in the tourism sector, for example towards more national or European clients or moving away from the classic business of snow sports, should not be slowed down with measures such as income replacement for the self-employed,” he says in the newspaper.
Crown loans often went to the wrong companies
Avenir Suisse also fears that structural change will slow down and money will be thrown out the nonsense window regarding Corona loans, which the Federal Council may want to reissue. And this fear doesn’t come out of nowhere, as the first wave experience shows.
The Federal Finance Administration found that as of May 25, about 40 percent of Covid-19 borrowers were registered in the federal tax administration’s pre-legal collection and about 6 percent had already started the execution of the loan. debt.
According to Avenir Suisse, millions of tax francs, because the federal government is ultimately responsible, flowed to companies that did not get into trouble because of Corona. That was not the purpose of these loans. If the federal government were to revive the credit program, it would have to look much better at who should get the money, according to Avenir Suisse.
