Taxing them "for" death

http://news.carrentals.co.uk/
January 25, 2010

Death tax for suicide trips considered.

As a way to try and reduce death tourism the Swiss Government is thinking of levying a tax on people that travel to the country to visit one of the clinics that offer assisted suicide. The government’s current law states that someone must live in the city of Zurich for at least a year before being allowed to use one of these clinics. The government is proposing to fine the clinics for breach of the law, which will then be passed on to their patients. The average cost of an assisted suicide in Zurich is currently around £5,000, with the tax the cost would increase by more than six times, which they believe would reduce the numbers of visitors coming for these types of services.
In 2009 there were 23 Brits that used the clinics for assisting in their suicide and there are thought to be hundreds more on a waiting list to visit the clinics in Switzerland. A poll in the coming year will ask voters if they should be a tax levied on foreigners who come to Zurich to use the clinics. All they need is a majority 51 per cent of the votes for it to become law. The vote has been welcomed by anti euthanasia groups in the UK who are asking the government in Britain not to change its laws regarding prosecution of individuals who assist in suicides. So far no one has ever been found guilty of assisted suicide when a Briton has used a clinic in Zurich.