EURO 08 and UEFA - from m***y-l********g to political power play
Will the VAT revenue gradient between Austria and Switzerland ring the final bell to Swiss federal income taxation?

Football (soccer) organizations such as FIFA and UEFA are well known for their m***y-l*******ng capacities and m***a-like behaviour, but the latest knews concerning the VAT(value added tax, MwSt / Mehrwertsteuer) revenues of both Austria and Switzerland, the two organizing nations of the EURO 08, show the potential of the football organizations to come out in the open of political power play. According to a report of the Sunday edition of the Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ am Sonntag), UEFA will sell tickets for the same price in both Austria and Switzerland despite the fact that the Austrian State imposes a 20% VAT whch will generate an estimated revenue of about 10 millions Euros, while the Swiss Confederation -on the basis of a VAT of only 2,4%, will earn only about 0.8 million Euros. Switzerland will have to spend more than 55 million Euros in taxpayer's money for the EURO 08 contest.
Three questions arise:
a) How stupid have the Swiss authorities been in their negotiations with the UEFA
to accept costs of more than 50 millions Euro to be covered by income taxes,
without looking at their partners in Austria
a) Why have EURO 08 visitors in Switzerland to pay the same price per ticket
as their Austrian neighbours without an effect on the burden of the EURO 08
infrastructure and service costs on their state budget?
c) What will be the effect of this incredible mess on the image Swiss
income tax payers will have of he wisdom of their government and parliament?

It may well be that football will become - more than ever before - an important element of the political powerplay and that the UEFA's ball tricks may make understand the Swiss that it would be proof of their collective intelligence to liquidate the overdue federal income tax in favor of a reasonable VAT.
Maybe finance minister Merz, a clever man who does his tricks behind the backs of his media-hungry colleagues such as Blocher, Couchepin and Calmy-Rey, will be pleased to read the NZZ am Sonntag report.

Two images representing violent behaviour on the football field published in the first version of this post have been eliminated
after warnings by a fellow (professional) blogger that they might provoke legal action by the football associations mentionned above.
The Editor