1918 Swiss direct federal tax initiative
| Federal popular initiative |
|---|
| Introduction of the Direct Federal Tax |
| Filed on: July 17, 1917 |
| Submitted by: Social Democratic Party of Switzerland |
| Counterproposal: no |
| Voted on: June 02, 1918 |
| Participation: 65.4 % |
| Result: rejected |
| By the people: no (by 54.1 %) |
| By the cantons: no (by 13 3/2) |
The federal popular initiative "Introduction of the federal direct tax" was a Swiss popular initiative to establish a progressive direct tax. The initiative was rejected by the people and the cantons on June 02, 1918.
The initiative proposed amending the Federal Constitution of Switzerland by adding Article 41bis, which would allow a progressive direct tax on the assets and income of natural and legal persons, except for those below a certain threshold and charitable organizations. One tenth of the revenue was to be allocated to the cantons. It also proposed replacing the provision allowing the Confederation to levy special contributions from the cantons with this direct tax.