Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation

¹The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall take meas­ures to achieve bal­anced eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment, and in par­tic­u­lar to pre­vent and com­bat un­em­ploy­ment and in­fla­tion.

²It shall take ac­count of eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment in in­di­vidu­al re­gions of the coun­try. It shall co­oper­ate with the Can­tons and the busi­ness com­munity.

³In the field of money and bank­ing, in for­eign eco­nom­ic af­fairs and in the field of pub­lic fin­ance, the Con­fed­er­a­tion may if ne­ces­sary de­part from the prin­ciple of eco­nom­ic free­dom.

⁴The Con­fed­er­a­tion, the Can­tons and the com­munes shall take ac­count of the eco­nom­ic situ­ation in their rev­en­ue and ex­pendit­ure policies.

⁵To sta­bil­ise the eco­nom­ic situ­ation, the Con­fed­er­a­tion may tem­por­ar­ily levy sur­charges or grant re­bates on fed­er­al taxes and du­ties. The ac­cu­mu­lated funds must be held in re­serve; fol­low­ing their re­lease, dir­ect taxes shall be in­di­vidu­ally re­fun­ded, and in­dir­ect taxes used to grant re­bates or to cre­ate jobs.

⁶The Con­fed­er­a­tion may ob­lige busi­nesses to ac­cu­mu­late re­serves for the cre­ation of jobs; it shall for this pur­pose grant tax con­ces­sions and may re­quire the Can­tons to do the same. Fol­low­ing the re­lease of the re­serves, busi­nesses shall be free to de­cide how the funds are ap­plied with­in the scope of the uses per­mit­ted by law.