Switzerland votes decisively against inheritance tax

THE YOUNG Socialists, the youth wing of Switzerland’s Social Democratic Party, do not have any MPs in parliament, but they know how to make a stir.

- The Economist

On November 30th the country held a referendum on their proposal to levy a 50% federal inheritance tax on the super-rich and use the funds to fight climate change. The country’s first inheritance tax at the federal level, it would apply to heirs of assets worth 50m francs ($62m) or more. Currently 24 of the country’s 26 cantons impose inheritance taxes, at various lower rates, but many of them exclude spouses and children; the proposed federal one would not. The wealthy country’s burghers rejected the tax by a solid 78% to 22%, But the fact that it came to a vote may have far-reaching consequences.

Swiss millionaires and billionaires, who usually keep a low profile, emerged from their mountain villas to oppose the tax. Wim Ouboter, the founder of Micro Mobility Systems, a maker of micros-cooters, promised, as he put it “to say ‘fuck you, Switzerland” and emigrate if the proposal were approved. Peter Spuhler, the billionaire boss of Stadler Rail, a railway-vehicle manufacturer, threatened to leave for Austria or Italy, though in more diplomatic terms. The tax would cost his heirs 1.5bn-2bn francs, he claimed. Both men predicted it would force their heirs to sell the family business.