Ticino-Italy tax agreement makes easier work permit for cross-border workers

A new tax agreement between Ticino and Italy will not obliged italian cross-border workers, known as frontalieri, to systematically provide a copy of their police record in order to secure a work or residence permit.
The requirement was imposed by the Italian-speaking canton in 2015; now, they will be expected to show any criminal record on a voluntary basis, while the canton will reserve the right to ask for it, as Ticino's government said in a statement.
  
The issue caused indignation in Italy when it was first imposed as part of a number of measures over the past few years aimed at reducing the number of Italian cross-border workers – known as frontalieri – in the Swiss canton. 
 
In 2014 the canton raised taxes on frontalieri, and in September 2016 Swiss voters in the canton backed a referendum to give preference to local workers over foreigners, though it remains to be seen if the plan will be implemented.

The new agreement between Ticino and Italy will increase taxes on non-Swiss-resident Italian workers (up to a limit of 70 percent); in this way it will be less attractive for italian workers to cross the borders to work in the Alpine country. The big other problem, wage-dumping, could be reduced.
 
The cantonal government said it had fully assessed the pros and cons of the new agreement and decided that “Despite not fully meeting Ticino’s expectations, the new tax agreement is globally positive for our canton”. 

According to Swiss statistics office (BFS), in 2016, the number of people working in Switzerland but living over the border rose by 11,300 to 318,500, recording an increase of 3.7 percent on 2015, and 26.6 percent on five years previously, when Switzerland had 251,700 cross-border workers.