Voters reject a levy on estates above 50 million francs, sparing the top 0.03% of richest heirs
Swiss voters have crushed a proposed 50 percent inheritance tax on ultra-wealthy residents, with about 82 percent voting no, according to Bloomberg.
The plan would have applied a 50 percent levy on all assets above US$62m that an individual passes on or gifts, affecting roughly 2,500 people, or the top 0.03 percent of Switzerland’s population.
The left-wing Young Socialists group launched the initiative as a way to raise funds for measures that combat climate change, arguing that rich people benefit most from growth that damages the planet.
Bloomberg reports that the federal government and all parties except those on the left opposed the tax, warning it would undermine Switzerland’s attractiveness for the affluent and risk an exodus that could leave public finances worse off.
Opponents also argued that the measure could force the breakup or sale of private companies when owners die.
Stadler Rail AG top shareholder Peter Spuhler said he would emigrate if the levy passed and told local media the tax would force his company to be sold in case of his death, according to Bloomberg.
Georg Lutz, a political scientist at the University of Lausanne, said “voters are pragmatic” and that “a majority would prefer to keep the billionaires here, along with the taxes they pay, instead of risking losing them with a sky-high inheritance tax”.
Switzerland already has more than nine billionaires per million inhabitants, about five times the western European average, citing a UBS study that did not include microstates such as Monaco and Liechtenstein.
According to Bloomberg, Switzerland’s rules for well-heeled foreigners — including provisions that allow them to pay taxes without fully disclosing what they own — have drawn rich emigres from tighter regimes such as Norway and the UK.
Switzerland currently levies wealth and inheritance taxes at the cantonal level, generally at moderate rates, and has no national inheritance tax imposed by the federal government in Bern.
The rejected proposal would have introduced a federal inheritance tax, but only on estates above 50m francs.
According to Bloomberg, Swiss voters have previously rejected similar moves to increase taxes on the wealthy.
A 2015 national vote on a 20 percent inheritance levy on estates above 2m francs to fund pensions failed with more than 70 percent opposing it, and in 2023, 55 percent of voters in Geneva rejected a higher wealth tax on individuals with assets above 3m francs.
