Now that Swiss authorities have returned taxes, what is the industry planning to do?

Overall the industry appears to have lowered prices to pass the reduced rate on to customers rather than hold at the previous price that consumers appeared willing to pay and keep the higher margin.

Partly that may be down to one company starting to lower and the rest having to match suit in an increasingly competitive market environment. But it may be more largely down to the fact that companies have already received an acknowledged windfall from the returned taxes with little expected outgoings from it.

Customers can claim back the taxes if they still have receipts but this is unlikely even in the case of major purchases. The number that have held on to receipts for regular small purchases is likely miniscule.

As a result, companies will be able to keep the vast majority of the money aside. Some have used the extra to fund lobbying for recreational legalisation. But most look like they will keep most of the funds as extra profit or capital to reinvest in the business.

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This article was written by one of CannIntelligence’s international correspondents. We currently employ more than 40 reporters around the world to cover individual cannabis and cannabinoid markets. For a full list, please see our Who We Are page.