Facts
The appellant [A.] is the owner of a holiday home in Andermatt and was liable for the accommodation fee for the years 2011 to 2013. He lodged an appeal against the decisions of the Government Council of the Canton of Uri and the High Court of the Canton of Uri, which dismissed his appeals.
The Federal Supreme Court had already confirmed the introduction of the accommodation fee in Andermatt in an earlier judgment (2C_951/2010). The appellant now complained about the illegality and unconstitutionality of the regulation itself.
The accommodation fee amounts to CHF 14.-- per m2 of net living space and year for holiday apartments and houses. The revenue from the accommodation fee is to be used entirely in the interest and for the benefit of the users of the accommodation services.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court examined the appeal and came to the conclusion that the accommodation fee is a cost-imposing tax that is imposed on a specific group of people because they are in a closer relationship to certain public expenditures than the other taxpayers.
The levying of such a fee requires that there be objectively justifiable reasons for charging the relevant public expenditures to the group of people concerned. The assessment, on the other hand, does not have to be based on concretely proven benefits, but can be done in an abstract way based on schematically defined criteria.
The Federal Supreme Court…