It is said that " Tax " and " opportunity " go hand in hand. The moment an opportunity opens the tax man is not far behind. Such is the case in Switzerland.
A decade ago the Swiss took a merciful approach to euthanasia. It is no longer illegal for help to be given to those wishing to end their lives, and this has resulted in an efficient industry serving this need.
Now the government is considering imposing a special tax of fifty thousand Swiss Francs ( $A 53,000 ) on those customers who are foreigners - and who have not lived in the country for the previous year.
Many who travel to Switzerland to end their lives are suffering terminal illnesses which result in a painful death. Only a handful of countries offer a merciful release, but now it seems that the Swiss tax man is treating death as an import industry.
The clinics which provide a dignified and painless death charge a fee of about 8,400 Swiss Francs. If this tax goes ahead it will be added to the customer's bill.
It does tend to underline that old witticism - that the only thing that is certain is " death and taxes ! "
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