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Federal budget of Switzerland
The Swiss federal budget (German: schweizer Bundesbudget) refers to the annual revenue (money received) and expenditures (money spent) of the Swiss Confederation. As budget expenditures are issued on a yearly basis by the government, the federal council, and have to be approved by the parliament, they reflect the country's fiscal policy.
The budget principles are defined by the Swiss Constitution and have been restated most recently in the 1999 fiscal guidelines of the confederation.
In 2014 the federal budget of Switzerland was 66.353 billion Swiss francs, or 10.63% of the country's GDP.
Note that the Swiss federal budget only comprises 31.7% of Swiss public expenditure, the rest being managed by the cantons, the municipalities, and the social security system. The Swiss Federal Finance Administration reports that the broader, general government sector (central + subnational + social security) in Switzerland had 2022 revenues and expenditures of 251.8 billion & 245.0 billion Swiss francs (6.8 billion CHF surplus).
As the federal system in Switzerland divides the nation into three levels of governance, confederation, cantons and municipalities, the federal budget refers solely to the revenues and expenditures at the national level. The regional (canton) budgets, as well as the budgets of the more than 2500 municipalities are not within the competence of the federal government or parliament. Their revenues and expenditures are therefore not counted as part of the federal budget, but they together amount to more than 60% of total public spending. However, the different budget levels are fiscally linked together. There are political instruments as for instance the "new fiscal harmonization"-law (Neuer Finanzausgleich), which regulate financial payments from the federal government to the cantons and municipalities as well as from the fiscally more to the fiscally less potent cantons.
Within these important frameworks many principles of distribution of money are regulated, as for example how different projects can be realised, using joint funds from municipalities, cantons and the confederation alike. In this sense, the different budget levels are fiscally interconnected, but politically separated from each other.
Although the right to decide upon budget expenditures ultimately resides with the parliament, these mechanisms of redistribution constrain its ability to exercise this right. Since these transfer expenditures are purpose bound by either legal or constitutional frameworks, they can not easily be changed and are therefore fixed in the short run. The amount of such fixed expenditures were at roughly 55% in 2010.
In 1999, the Swiss government published its new fiscal guidelines which state the countries goals, principles and main instruments to achieve publicly beneficial fiscal policies. Challenges and necessary reforms to meet them are also conceptualised in these guidelines. Many of the proposed reforms are processes of which some have been realised in the meantime, as for example the above-mentioned new fiscal harmonisation law in 2008, and some are still under continued reform (i.e. the various social welfare programs). Generally, the federal budget has to function as the economical backbone of the government and allow it to realise its main goal, the welfare of the people. In order to achieve this overarching purpose, the federal council stated the three main goals of its fiscal policy:
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Federal budget of Switzerland
The Swiss federal budget (German: schweizer Bundesbudget) refers to the annual revenue (money received) and expenditures (money spent) of the Swiss Confederation. As budget expenditures are issued on a yearly basis by the government, the federal council, and have to be approved by the parliament, they reflect the country's fiscal policy.
The budget principles are defined by the Swiss Constitution and have been restated most recently in the 1999 fiscal guidelines of the confederation.
In 2014 the federal budget of Switzerland was 66.353 billion Swiss francs, or 10.63% of the country's GDP.
Note that the Swiss federal budget only comprises 31.7% of Swiss public expenditure, the rest being managed by the cantons, the municipalities, and the social security system. The Swiss Federal Finance Administration reports that the broader, general government sector (central + subnational + social security) in Switzerland had 2022 revenues and expenditures of 251.8 billion & 245.0 billion Swiss francs (6.8 billion CHF surplus).
As the federal system in Switzerland divides the nation into three levels of governance, confederation, cantons and municipalities, the federal budget refers solely to the revenues and expenditures at the national level. The regional (canton) budgets, as well as the budgets of the more than 2500 municipalities are not within the competence of the federal government or parliament. Their revenues and expenditures are therefore not counted as part of the federal budget, but they together amount to more than 60% of total public spending. However, the different budget levels are fiscally linked together. There are political instruments as for instance the "new fiscal harmonization"-law (Neuer Finanzausgleich), which regulate financial payments from the federal government to the cantons and municipalities as well as from the fiscally more to the fiscally less potent cantons.
Within these important frameworks many principles of distribution of money are regulated, as for example how different projects can be realised, using joint funds from municipalities, cantons and the confederation alike. In this sense, the different budget levels are fiscally interconnected, but politically separated from each other.
Although the right to decide upon budget expenditures ultimately resides with the parliament, these mechanisms of redistribution constrain its ability to exercise this right. Since these transfer expenditures are purpose bound by either legal or constitutional frameworks, they can not easily be changed and are therefore fixed in the short run. The amount of such fixed expenditures were at roughly 55% in 2010.
In 1999, the Swiss government published its new fiscal guidelines which state the countries goals, principles and main instruments to achieve publicly beneficial fiscal policies. Challenges and necessary reforms to meet them are also conceptualised in these guidelines. Many of the proposed reforms are processes of which some have been realised in the meantime, as for example the above-mentioned new fiscal harmonisation law in 2008, and some are still under continued reform (i.e. the various social welfare programs). Generally, the federal budget has to function as the economical backbone of the government and allow it to realise its main goal, the welfare of the people. In order to achieve this overarching purpose, the federal council stated the three main goals of its fiscal policy: