The Impact of Direct Democracy on Society - Universität St.Gallen

– 138 –Finally, one should take into account that here we only deal with the cantonal and local leveland, there, only with the tax side. This side is, <strong>of</strong> course, very important for redistribution.Nevertheless, a large part <strong>of</strong> redistribution is done by public expenditure. 147 Moreover, theperhaps most strongly redistributive part <strong>of</strong> the Swiss welfare state is the first column <strong>of</strong> theold age pension system (AHV) which is located at the federal level. It is much moreredistributive as, e.g., the corresponding German system. Nevertheless, not only itsintroduction but also all <strong>of</strong> its many revisions have finally been accepted in referenda. Thus,Switzerland with its direct democracy at all governmental levels can hardly be seen as anexample where the welfare state is endangered by the existence <strong>of</strong> direct popular rights.147 See for this the corresponding estimates in KIRCHGÄSSNER and POMMEREHNE (1996) and FELD (2000).