On 20 March 2016, the canton of Vaud handed its corporate tax reform a genuine landslide: 87.1% Yes, barely 12.9% No, on a turnout of 35.3%. It was one of the most lopsided results in the history of Vaud cantonal votes.
The text — the fiscal « roadmap » passed by the Grand Council on 29 September 2015 — cut the corporate profit tax rate from around 21.6% to 13.79%, the same rate for every company, multinationals and SMEs alike, from 2019. In return, it abolished the special tax status of foreign companies, doomed under international pressure.
The project's strength lay in its social component, negotiated between Liberal-Radical finance minister Pascal Broulis and Socialist Pierre-Yves Maillard: higher family allowances, health-insurance subsidies capping premiums at 10% of income, and funding for childcare. This left-right compromise defused the opposition. A referendum, launched by the « Touche pas à mes services publics » coalition (POP, solidaritéS, unions) with 14,259 signatures, was swept aside.
▲ Yes — 87.1% A cantonal landslide: 125,362 Yes against 18,538 No. The fiscal-and-social compromise won in every district, backed from the business right to much of the left. | ▼ No — 12.9% Only 12.9% followed the far left (POP, solidaritéS), which denounced a gift to multinationals and shareholders at the expense of public services. |
Actors and personalities
▲ Yes camp • Pascal Broulis (PLR, Finance) and Pierre-Yves Maillard (PS, Health & Social Affairs), architects of the compromise • The full Council of State and almost the entire Grand Council • PLR, PS, Greens, Christian Democrats and employers (CVCI) • Much of the trade-union movement (Unia Vaud refused to back the referendum) | ▼ No camp • The « Touche pas à mes services publics » coalition • POP and solidaritéS, behind the referendum • Part of the SSP/VPOD union and the radical left • Voices denouncing a « gift to multinationals » |
Arguments and verdicts
▲ Arguments FOR (Yes camp) A competitive single rate will retain firms and jobs « A tax framework that keeps companies in the canton. » — Council of State, CVCI Verdict : ✓~ Mostly confirmed. The rate fell to 13.79% from 2019; companies stayed and the canton saw no exodus, even if isolating the reform's own effect remains tricky. No mass departure of firms was recorded; the canton kept its tax appeal in inter-cantonal comparison. Source : BCV, « RIE III Vaud », 2019; CVCI The revenue drop will be offset, with no budget hole « A financially controlled reform. » Verdict : ✓ Confirmed. The estimated 309-million drop was absorbed: the Council of State recorded profit-tax revenue of around 660 million in 2019 — the pre-reform level. Cantonal accounts stayed in surplus over the period, with no austerity documented as a result of the reform. Source : Canton of Vaud, « RIE III review »; 24 heures The social component will concretely benefit families « Tangible social counterparts. » — Pierre-Yves Maillard Verdict : ✓ Confirmed. Higher family allowances, health-insurance subsidies capping premiums at 10% of income and childcare support came into force. The compromise delivered its social half, which explains the governing left's support. Source : Canton of Vaud, family allowances; Pro Familia Vaud | ▼ Arguments AGAINST (No camp) A tax gift to multinationals and shareholders « Cutting big firms' taxes on the public's back. » — solidaritéS, POP Verdict : ✗~ Partly valid, consequences disproven. The cut did benefit companies and their shareholders, but revenue was maintained and public services were not dismantled. The objection of principle keeps a kernel of truth; the scenario of collapsing public services did not occur. Source : RTS, « La RIE III vaudoise sourit déjà aux actionnaires » The revenue loss will force austerity « Lower taxes today, cuts tomorrow. » Verdict : ✗ Disproven. The drop was offset; Vaud's accounts stayed healthy and no austerity directly tied to the RIE III was documented. The canton absorbed the reform without a major savings plan, contradicting the austerity prediction. Source : Canton of Vaud, RIE III review |
Factual record
In force since 1 January 2019, the Vaud RIE III delivered its two central promises: a competitive single rate and offset revenue. Companies stayed, the accounts stayed healthy and the social component was applied. The feared collapse of finances and public services did not happen — even if the cut did, in fact, benefit companies, as opponents had pointed out.
87.1% Yes, a genuine landslide | 21.6→13.8% profit tax rate from 2019 | ~660 mln revenue in 2019, pre-reform level | 2019 in force, paired with the federal RFFA |
At 87.1% Yes, the Vaud RIE III will stand as a textbook case: an ordinarily divisive tax reform turned into a landslide by a social-fiscal compromise. The Broulis-Maillard duo, right and left together, sold the corporate tax cut by pairing it with allowances, subsidies and crèches.
In practice, the bet paid off. Companies stayed, profit-tax revenue returned to its pre-reform level as early as 2019, and the social component was applied. The prophecy of a budget hole and forced austerity did not come true.
Opponents were not wrong on one point: the cut did benefit companies and their shareholders. But by maintaining revenue and services, the canton stripped their argument of its catastrophist conclusion. Above all, Vaud showed the way to a Confederation that, three years later, would adopt the same recipe.