Ah, the sweet sound of autumn in Switzerland: rustling leaves, crisp mountain air… and the unmistakable thud of the Serafe envelope hitting my mailbox.

No TV? Doesn’t mater. Don’t listen to the radio? Irrelevant. Live in a minimalist cave with only a WiFi router and existential dread? Serafe still finds you.

I don’t watch RTS. I don’t even own a television. My screen time consists of doomscrolling Reddit and pretending to understand memes from Gen Z.

Of course I’ll pay. I’m not trying to start a revolution. But I reserve the right to laugh at the absurdity of funding programming I’ve never seen, on devices I don’t own, for channels I couldn’t name in a quizz.

by peters-mith

37 comments

  1. yes that’s how society works, you pay for common services even if you don’t use them. I’ve never used the firefighters and neither a school yet here I am paying for all that through my taxes. truly a mind blowing concept

  2. Aaah yes this time of the year where people complain about contributing to public services.

    On the side note, I guess you have a smartphone and internet? So you have access to public media. That’s why you pay.

  3. I never use the highway in geneva yet I pay taxes. Whats your point?

  4. You‘re also paying for schools you‘ll never attend, roads you‘ll never walk on etc.

    I hate it too. But I guess it‘s part of the public service.

  5. The only thing I would change is to pay per person instead of per household. Its unfair that WG’s with 4 people pays the same as me living alone.

  6. MFs in this thread truly defending the boot stepping on their face 😂 

  7. I paid, and I have no idea what SERAFE is.

    In general I love how you can see the benefits of a functional government in Switzerland. The effective mass transit, clean public spaces, miscellaneous half-day festivals, safe roadways, nice government buildings, etc.

    Happy to pay for the amazing services here, even if I don’t use all of them.

  8. after the forced levies of lamal, which increase every year with no way out, this is yet another coercive theft.

  9. I understand that people don’t agree with everything SERAFE is used for and that it can and should be discussed. What I will never understand is people paying for 5 streaming services, gym, eating out, order food, pay for holidays no matter what, partying, getting a 5.- coffee at migros take away to sip in the train, basically wasting money EVERYWHERE without batting an eye but 1.- a day is considered an absolutely, insanely overexaggerated fee for service publique which, tbh, does a damn good job in a LOT of things anyways.

  10. I’m proudly funding shows I’ll never watch on devices I don’t own.

  11. Public information is important. It ensures stability, freedom of opinion, mutual understanding, and prevents situations such as those we are currently seeing in other countries, such as the USA. There, information is always politically biased, which leads to people no longer believing and trusting each other.

    Yes, I would also prefer it to be collected directly through taxes. Yes, I also wonder whether SRF and RTS have to broadcast every entertainment program. But there are good reasons why we all pay for it collectively. Switzerland is one of the most livable countries in the world, and each of these pieces of the puzzle contributes to that. I hope we keep it that way.

  12. Think about it this way: You’re paying for the privilege of living in a country with a functioning media environment.

    SERAFE mostly funds SRF/RTS, yes, but what they report on also gets picked up by the other newspapers. Additionally it’s funding local TV and Radio that reports on local matters – something that private newspapers no longer really do.

  14. Look at it this way. The alternative to this Tax would be a fully privatized Radio and TV Landscape. Which at first you’ll think “Great, so I don’t have to opt in” but then you’ll remember how similar to the US we are and how ugly this can become.

  15. I’m rather pay over American private system where media are owned by billionaires.

  16. Yep. You can’t make me pay for something that you’re spreading through the open airwaves for all to receive. Its ridiculous. Queue the apathetic swiss with his excuses below.

  17. It’s because I like paying for things I don’t use, but I *especially* love paying for things I already paid. Why not? This is the Swiss baby

  18. I hate SERAFE. And as a French guy who’s never watched TV passed the age of 17, I’ve always hated the “relevance télévisuelle”, which is quite similar to what the SERAFE here is standing for.

    But if people defending it here as a common good paid by taxes, just like infrastructures and services, can you explain to me why, as a single person earning not that high of a salary, I have to pay the exact same amount as a household earning mimimum twice as much as me, with two salaries?

    If it’s supposed to be a tax, why isn’t it adjusted to personal earnings and patrimonies then, just like the rest of the taxes I’m paying?
    And why is the management of said tax being attributed to a private company?

    And to nullify the ridiculous and aggressive arguments I’ve read here : I went to school, I got my education, I am not an idiot, and when I want to get informed, I get my news from diverse online websites, channels. None of them are being part of the SRF and other media channels in Switzerland. Whereas, if I want to get to Genève from Zürich, I have no other choices than use public infrastructures. I have no qualms against taxes when it’s for, as listed previously, infrastructures and services (such as police, military, health, schools). But it starts to bother me when it’s for something “accessory” and dispensable. Especially in such a day and age in which TV and radio don’t have the same predominance and they used to have, and are more and more consumed by an aging strata of the population.

    So, if you REALLY have to make it pass as a tax and want me to pay for it, be coherent and adjust its price to my salary and what’s written in my tax declaration, like the rest of my taxes.

    Cheers 🙂

  19. Hey, you’re also funding free pregnancy hospital treatments for women and you can’t even get pregnant. How ridiculous right?

  21. >No TV? Doesn’t mater. Don’t listen to the radio? Irrelevant. Live in a minimalist cave with only a WiFi router and existential dread? Serafe still finds you.

    – No smartphone?

    – High expenses overall because of additional staff to check all exceptions for such relatively small amounts?

  22. I don’t mind it.

    What I *do* mind is being unemployed and barely scraping by and *still* having to have to choose between buying new winter clothes or paying this bill on time.

  23. Remember that a functioning local independent press is a Public Good and fundamental for a functioning democracy.

    This is paying for that. And I gladly do.

  24. I am so glad to pay for old people and their tv show.

    That’s why I pay my internet myself and all online services and dont own any TV.

    Bullsh*t taxe

  26. People defending serafe in this comment sections are hilarious

  27. It is a common service, but it is an outdated common service. Should be shut down imo.

  28. Aren’t we voting next year to bring it to 200 CHF. Still to much IMO…

  29. Is it only Swiss-born that will defend this til their death?

  31. The worst of this Tax is that it is separate from the normal Taxation system!

    Why do I need to care receiving this bill every year for that??

    Wouldn’t there be cost savings if this would be included as all the other taxes??

    I don’t mind the government paying for Swiss quality medias, but to have to manage that separately and the system of paying per household is truly a f*cking pain I‘d be glad to avoid.

  32. Be happy you get your Rechnung! i’m begging to serafe since two years to send me a correct one instead of getting one on the name of a person who doesn’t live here. They told me not to worry, they contacted the registry to fix it and i should wait for the corrected bill with my name on it and not pay the false one. Then it happened again, they wrote the Gemeinde again and i should wait for the corrected one. Guess what did i just get? The same incorrect name on it.. I keep writing an calling as i don’t want to get a debt collection for this mistake. I just contacted the Meldeamt myself to make sure i did my due diligence with all the traces.
    Can’t wait to get a combined Rechnung with like 700+ chf in total…

  33. > But I reserve the right to laugh at the absurdity of funding programming I’ve never seen, on devices I don’t own, for channels I couldn’t name in a quizz.

    Can you actually name all the elements your tax money funds? No? 

    Yeah, I don’t know why Serafe cannot be collected through taxes directly. Should be directly funded. 

  34. Why is it not possible to slim it down to one single TV channel dubbed/subtitled in all Swiss languages? We could slash SERAFE costs by 10 and hardly lose any benefits compared to the current situation… no we absolutely NEED fricking german, french, italian and rumantsch TV channels doing everything 4 times…

  35. Would you rather have Fox News dominating the media landscape? We have enough brainrot with 20min, Blick and nau.ch, we really need to strengthen the public information infrastructure.

    Also, none of your points about not consuming the content are relevant. You can watch SRF DOK on Youtube or read SRF.ch. Maybe you should give it a go.

  36. I received my Serafe bill today. In Finland, having moved out of Switzerland permanently in August. You are so correct about Serafe finding you wherever you go.

  37. So your rather want only private media which can manipulate you with their opinion??

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