Grosser Rat
2,535 francs per person from the tax pot: Tanja Soland has to draw up a bill
The citizens want to return the canton of Basel-Stadt‘s millions in surplus to taxpayers – and Finance Director Tanja Soland (SP) thinks that’s an exciting idea. Now the ball is back in the government’s court.
Had a difficult time on Wednesday: Finance Director Tanja Soland (SP) had to take a stand on nine transactions.
Image: Michael Fritschi
“Today is not my day,” stated Finance Director Tanja Soland (SP) shortly after 10 a.m. Nine items from the Finance Department were on the Grand Council’s agenda on Wednesday. Soland tried to convince the Grand Councilors to write off the proposals or at least to transfer them as a suit – only the second strongest form of proposal in Basel-Stadt.
More transparency in employment relationships: transferred. New beginning at the Horburg area: transferred. Anonymized application process: transferred. Ensuring pastoral care quality in prisons and hospitals: referred. Lower fees for official documents: transferred. Here Tanja Soland even appealed to the SVP that the party should vote against the suit, since the issue would lead to an increase in staff and the SVP usually votes against such transactions.
What was striking was that it was primarily proposals from the council left that Soland wanted to have rejected. When one of the main items of business at this Grand Council day came around, the government councilor was already sobered up.
“The motion is risk-free”
434 million francs. The 2023 profit for the canton of Basel-Stadt is huge. This amount has once again triggered a debate and numerous initiatives this year. FDP Grand Councilor Christian C. Moesch is calling for a motion that 80 percent of the excess funds should be refunded to private taxpayers. In the first reading, the initiative was already referred to the government. Now it was a matter of giving the government the final order to draft a law.
Moesch made it clear in his vote in the council: “The motion is risk-free, it will not influence the canton’s financial planning.” It is simply a matter of ensuring that surpluses are paid back to the people of Basel after the final settlement. LDP Grand Councilor Annina von Falkenstein supported the request: “It sounds as if it would be generous to involve citizens. But they paid the money in.” Your group supports the motion and continues to demand that taxes in Basel-Stadt be reduced.
The factions of the Green-Alternative Alliance and the SP, however, were of the opinion that the millions should be invested. “In principle, we can understand the petitioner’s concerns. It’s not a clumsy tax-cutting motion,” said Basta Councilor Oliver Bolliger. But accompanying measures are needed. The surpluses should be better spent on the Basel climate protection strategy, solving the nursing shortage, security or culture.
SP government councilor finds the idea exciting
After Finance Director Soland had resisted numerous left-wing initiatives, she said in the debate about Moesch’s motion: “I think it’s a very exciting idea. Because it doesn’t affect the many investments and expenses that we want to make.” The government response from August said it was “a promising approach”. But Soland emphasized that there are still a few questions unanswered, which is why she wants to accept the proposal as a suit. “My employees would certainly enjoy developing a template.”
But the majority of the Grand Council had a different plan: the matter was referred to the government as a motion with 50 yes votes and 43 no votes. This is now tasked with submitting a bill within four years at the latest. The government has already given an indication of how much money the people of Basel could get back: in recent years, an average of 2,535 francs per capita would have been paid out.
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