An attempt to federalise Switzerland’s inheritance tax system and redistribute wealth by taxing legacies worth more than CHF2 million ($2.15 million) has been rejected by Swiss voters, as expected. On Sunday, 71% of voters and all 26 Swiss cantons rejected the proposal. As a result, with its initiative to “tax millionaires’ legacies to fund old age pensions”, the political left has continued its losing streak at the ballot box. In the past two years voters have rejected pay caps within companies, the introduction of a nationwide minimum wage and a plan to scrap lump sum taxation for rich foreigners. Supporters of the latest initiative, which applies only to estates and gifts over CHF2 million at a basic rate of 20% but allows for exceptions for company property, had argued that this would be fairer. They pointed out that in Switzerland wealth is increasingly concentrated in the pockets of a few. Two-thirds of the revenue from this new tax, projected ...
