Next week, in Switzerland, a popular federal initiative to cancel the disadvantages of married couples
"Do not penalize families from a fiscal point of view." This is the objective that led to the creation of the popular federal initiative "For Marriage and the Family—No Disadvantages for Married Couples." The Swiss citizens will be called to vote on February 28th, and the bishops are supporting the proposal. Currently, in fact, in Switzerland, the calculation of taxes of married couples presupposes that the spouses‘ income is cumulated, while people living together are taxed individually: consequently, a married couple with two incomes pays more taxes than a cohabiting couple. If the Swiss say "yes," marriage will not be a disadvantage in comparison with other ways of life, in regard to its profile under the tax and social security systems, which consists of the permanent coexistence, under the law, of a man and a woman, i.e. spouses who constitute an economic communion from the fiscal viewpoint.