On Sunday, Switzerland overwhelmingly rejected the proposal to impose a 50% tax on inherited wealth worth 50 million Swiss francs ($53 million) or more, with 78% voting against it, a result that exceeded even third-party opposition indicated by opinion polls.
Bankers followed the vote, seeing it as a real test of interest in wealth redistribution in Switzerland, while other countries, such as Norway, have strengthened taxes on assets or discussed similar measures. Switzerland is home to some of the most expensive cities in the world, and concerns about the cost of living have gained strong ground in local politics.
The proposal by the youth wing of the left-wing Social Democratic Party, JUSO, aims to finance projects to reduce the impact of climate change. They said: “The super-rich inherited thousands of millions, and we inherited the crisis.” Critics of the initiative claimed that it could lead to a mass exodus of wealthy people from Switzerland, which would reduce overall fiscal austerity. The Swiss government urges voters to reject it.
Swiss citizens also called for changing the country’s current military service, which has become compulsory for men, and on the other hand “citizens” where women are also called up and which includes safety-related work, such as climate protection or disaster prevention.
About 84.15% of voters said no to this proposal, according to the final vote. The initiative sought to “expand the concept of security to include other areas such as climate protection, food security or aid”, but the government and the fragmented parliament (Conservatives 31%; Socialists 20%; Liberals and Democrats 14% each) were asked to vote against it, arguing that the military and civil protection bodies play a central role in national security.
Promoters of For an Integrated Switzerland have argued that Switzerland is not only threatened militarily, but also by cyberattacks, the risk of energy shortages or climate disasters such as the landslide that this year destroyed a small town in the country’s Alpine valley.