No. 499.
Mr. Fish
to Mr. Evarts.
Legation of
the United States,
Berne, October 21, 1878.
(Received November 7.)
No. 118.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy
and translation of the law concerning the tax for exemption from military
service of June 28 last. Mr. Rublee, in his Nos. 238, 251, 259, 273, and
279, gave at length the history of the bill of 1875, which was so
overwhelmingly rejected by the people, and of the views of this government
concerning the application of that bill, should it become law, to citizens
of the United States resident in Switzerland as well as to natives of
Switzerland naturalized as citizens of the United States.
During the interim between Mr. Rublee’s departure and my arrival the Federal
Assembly passed a law (March 27, 1877) which, though modified in form as
compared with that of 1875, was rejected by the popular vote after the referendum had been demanded. This rejection took
place during my absence in America last autumn, and as the law failed I did
[Page 842]
not consider it of sufficient
importance to report it in the pressure of other business.
By the law of 1875, a per capita tax of 8 francs was imposed on all those of
a military age, and a tax on their revenue was likewise prescribed, to be
estimated according to a given scale, without exempting either those of
moderate revenue or limiting the amount which might be collected of any one
individual.
The law of 1877 fixed the per capita tax at 7 francs, restricted the total
amount which might be collected of any one individual to 3,000 francs, and
and while exempting those fortunes under 1,000 francs and those incomes
under 600 francs, taxed both fortune and income, the former at rates varying
from 50 centimes per 1,000 to 2 francs 50 centimes per 1,000; and the latter
from 1.25 francs per 700 francs of income to 300 francs for an income of
10,000, and 3 per cent, on those of a larger amount.
At its last session the Federal Assembly, notwithstanding the rejection of
these two laws by the people, passed a law of the same nature, and, contrary
to the opinion of those whom I considered best able to judge, the referendum has not been demanded by the requisite
30,000. It has, therefore, become a law, and according to a decree of the
Federal Council published in the Feuille Fédérale of the 19th instant went
into force on the 15th of this month.
When we consider the very recent rejection of the two previous laws by the
people it is fair to suppose that the small number (between five and six
thousand) demanding a popular vote is to be attributed to the elimination of
the objectionable features of the former laws, and also to the realization
on the part of the people of the necessity for an increase of the federal
revenue.
The objectionable features of the former laws were, that while they fell with
undue severity on the very poor, by the imposition of a per capita tax on
all, and a tax on revenue or capital, imposed on an arbitrary scale, which
would prove a great burden on those of moderate means, they bore even more
heavily on the rich, and the amount to be collected of these latter was only
limited in proportion to their fortunes. It is not, therefore, to be
wondered at that they were rejected by the vote of the people, and that the
legislators should have sought to avoid these errors in drawing up the
present law.
The personal tax is fixed at 6 francs, and the rate of
the tax on the fortune and revenue is uniform throughout; but unless the net
fortune reaches 1,000 francs it is exempt from tax, and 600 francs is to be
deducted from the net income of each tax-payer, and the annual tax on any
one person is limited to 3,000 francs. In this manner the very poor will
have only the personal tax to pay, and those having sufficient fortune and
revenue will contribute at a proportionate rate, without any one individual
being mulcted in an excessive measure.
The most objectionable features contained in the present law, and which
existed in the two which were rejected, are those by which the parents are
made responsible for the payment of the taxes of their sons, and that by
which one-half of the fortune of the parents, or even of the grandparents,
may be reckoned in the calculation of the fortune liable to taxation.
As, under existing circumstances, citizens of the United States residing in
Switzerland will be subject to this tax, and as the Swiss laws do not
recognize the natives of Switzerland naturalized as citizens of the United
States, unless they have been released by the authorities of Switzerland
from their original nationality, it may be to our interest to negotiate a
qualifying clause to article 2 of the treaty of 1850, exempting
[Page 843]
the citizens of the United States
residing in Switzerland from the payment of this tax, and the property of
natives of Switzerland, naturalized as citizens of the United States, from
liability to such tax.
The present law provides that one-half of the amount collected by this tax
shall be paid by the respective cantons to the federal government, and that
the cantons shall retain the other half in lieu of the sums now collected by
some of them by virtue of similar laws. It is estimated that the revenue to
the federal government from this tax will amount to 800,000 francs per
annum.
If you desire me to do so, I will sound this government as to its views in
regard to the negotiation of a clause exempting our citizens from this tax,
but without instructions to do so I should think the eve of a general
election not the best time to do so. By the time I can receive your
instructions the elections to the National Council will be finished, and the
Federal Council will be reconstituted for another term. I have but little
doubt that you will find the latter body as ready to meet any proposals
coming from us in as liberal a spirit now as in 1875, and I think it might
be possible even to obtain a recognition of the right of expatriation now,
which at that time would have been impossible, owing to the lack of federal
legislation on the subject.
I await, therefore, your views on this subject before approaching the members
of the government, convinced that so important a subject will not fail to
prove of interest to you.
I inclose for the files of the Department a copy of the law of 1877 without
translation, and I add a copy of the new law in German to the French copy;
and a copy and translation of the decree for the execution of the law are
likewise inclosed.
I do not believe that the law can be long in force without giving rise to an
appeal for our intervention, which, until I hear from you on the matter, I
shall as far as possible avoid; or if it is one that should be entertained,
I will be careful not to compromise any position you may wish to assume.
I have, & c.,
[Inclosure 3. in No.
118.—Translation.]
Federal law on the tax for exemption from military
service. June 28, 1878.
The Federal Assembly of the Swiss Confederation in execution of article
18, paragraph 4, and of article 42, letter e, of
the federal constitution, having considered the message of the Federal
Council of April 28, 1878, decrees:
Article 1. Every Swiss citizen of the age for
military service living in the territory or out of the territory of the
confederation, and who does not personally perform military service, is
subject in lieu thereof to the payment of an annual tax in money.
Foreigners established in Switzerland are likewise subject to this tax,
unless they are exempt therefrom in virtue of international treaties, or
that they belong to a state in which the Swiss are neither liable to
military service nor to the payment of any equivalent tax in money.
Art. 2. The following are exempt from military
tax:
- a.
- The paupers assisted by the public charity fund, as well as
those who, in consequence of physical or intellectual
infirmities, are incapable to obtain their subsistence by their
work and do not possess a sufficient fortune for the maintenance
of themselves and that of their family;
- b.
- The soldier rendered unfit for military service in consequence
of that service;
- c.
- Swiss citizens in foreign countries, if they are subject to a
regular personal service or to the payment of an exemption tax
in the place of their domicile;
- d.
- The railway and steamboat employés, if they are exempted from
personal service, and in those years in which, by the terms of
article 2, letter f, of the law
concerning the military organization, they perform their
military service in the capacity of employés for the working of
the railways and steamboats in time of war;
- e.
- The gendarmes and the policemen, as
well as the federal frontier guards. (Article 2, letter c, of the law concerning the military
organization. Recueil Officiel, new series I, 218.)
Art. 3. The tax of exemption from military
service consists in a personal tax of 6 francs
and of an additional tax proportioned to the fortune and to the income.
The simple annual tax of one tax-payer shall not exceed 300 francs.
Art. 4. For the additional tax (article 3), the
following tariff will be applied:
|
|
Francs. |
| a. |
For 1,000 francs of net fortune |
1.50 |
| b. |
For 100 francs of net income |
1.50 |
It the net fortune of a tax-payer reaches less than 1,000 francs it will
not be subject to the tax.
From the net income of each tax-payer there shall be deducted the sum of
600 francs.
Art. 5. The net fortune and net income of the
tax-payer will be determined on the following basis:
a.—fortune.
1. By net fortune is understood the property personal and real, deducting
debts. Nevertheless, the fortune consisting in farm buildings and real
property will only be estimated at three-fourths of its market value,
deducting mortgages.
The value of personal objects necessary for the household, that of tools
used for a trade, and that of agricultural implements, are not to be
taken into account.
2. The half of the fortune of the parents, or of that of the grandparents
if the parents are dead, will be taken into account proportionally to
the number of children or grandchildren, unless the father of the
tax-payer shall himself perform military service or pay the military
exemption tax.
b.—income.
The following shall be considered as the net income:
a. The earnings that the exercise of an art, of a
profession, of a trade, of a business, of an occupation, or of an
employment.
The expenses incurred in order to obtain these earnings are deducted,
with an exception in each case of the household expenses, and of 5 per
cent, of the capital invested in a business.
b. The product of annuities, of pensions and other
analogous revenues.
Art. 6. The soldiers who have performed at
least eight years of service and who become unfit for service for the
remainder of the period during which they would be liable thereto, or
who are temporarily exempted in virtue of article 2 of the law
concerning the military organization, shall pay one-half of the tax
fixed for their class of age’ (those of their own age) unless the tax
should be entirely remitted in their case according to the provisions of
the second article.
Art. 7. From the age of thirty-two years
completed to that of forty-four completed, the tax-payer has only to pay
the half of the tax which is imposed upon him by the articles 3 and
4.
Art. 8. The Federal Assembly is empowered to
raise the military tax up to the double of the amount for those years in
which the greater part of the élite troops are
called in an extraordinary manner into active service.
Art. 9. The parents are responsible for the
payment of the tax for their minor sons and for those of their sons who
have attained their majority who belong to their household.
Art. 10. The tax for exemption from military
service is to be paid in the canton where the tax-payer is domiciled at
the time of the making out of the rolls for the tax.
Those liable to this tax who are absent from the country are subject to
the tax in their canton of birth.
Art. 11. The time of prescription is fixed:
- a.
- At five years for those tax-payers present in the
country;
- b.
- At ten years for those tax-payers absent from the
country.
This time commences to run from the end of the year in which the tax
falls due.
The cantons are empowered to accord equitable delays for the payment of
arrears of this tax.
Art. 12. The cantonal authorities are charged
with the making out of the annual roll of all those liable to the tax,
as well as with the collection of such taxes.
There shall be established in each canton a tribunal of appeal empowered
to pass upon the appeals against the decisions of the authority which
shall have made out the rolls.
Art. 13. The amount of the tax which Swiss
domiciled abroad are to be made to pay is likewise to be fixed upon
separate registers; the canton of his birth will inform the tax-payer in
the manner best suited to accomplish the purpose.
[Page 845]
The Federal Council will determine in what degree the representatives
from Switzerland abroad shall have to co-operate for the rating and for
the collection of the tax, and to lend for this purpose their assistance
to the cantons.
Art. 14. The year of the tax begins with
January 1.
The cantons shall remit annually to the Confederation, at the latest by
the end of the month of January which follows the year of the tax, the
half of the brut product of the tax collected by
them, accompanied by vouchers.
The Federal Assembly shall fix the portion of this product which the
federal treasury shall assign to the funds for military pensions.
Art. 15. With a view of assuring a uniform
application of the present law, the Confederation has the right of
supreme supervision and that of pronouncing in last resort upon all the
operations concerning the military tax, in particular upon those
prescribed by articles 11, 12, and 13.
Art. 16. The disputes between the cantons
concerning questions relating to the military tax are to be decided by
the Federal Council.
Art. 17. The ordinances of execution decreed by
the cantons respecting the military tax are subject to the approbation
of the Federal Council.
Art. 18. The first year of the tax is the year
1878. Those taxes which the cantons-have collected from the 1st of
January, 1878, must be refunded to the tax-payers who have paid them,
and these latter are from that time subject to the tax according to the
provisions of the present law.
Art. 19. The Federal Council is empowered, in
conformity with the provisions of the federal law of June 17, 1874
(Recueil Officiel, nouvelle série, I, 97), concerning the popular vote
on the federal laws and decrees, to publish the present laws and to fix
the time when it shall go into effect.
Thus decreed by the National Council.
Berne, June 28,
1878.
The President,
PHILLIPIN
.
The
Secretary,
SCHIESS
.
Thus decreed by the Council of States.
Berne, the 28th of June,
1878.
The President,
A. VESSAZ
.
The
Secretary,
J. L. LÜTSCHER
.
The Federal Council decrees the foregoing federal law shall be
published in the Feuille Fédérale.
Berne, July 5,
1878.
- The President of the Confederation,
SCHENK.
- The Chancellor of the
Confederation,
SCHIESS.
