Tax
Swiss Lawmakers Reject Inheritance "Solidarity" Tax
![Swiss Lawmakers Reject Inheritance](https://wealthbriefing.com/cms/images/app/More%20City/Bernefederal-building.jpg)
The decision to reject the ideas come as Switzerland is mindful of trying to bolster its competitiveness as an international financial centre.
Swiss lawmakers in the federal council have thrown out a
proposal to introduce a “solidarity tax” on inheritances to pay
for the country’s AHV old-age pension system. They also rejected
attempts to end bank secrecy within Switzerland.
The moves come at a time when the Alpine state – still the
world’s largest cross-border jurisdiction – is seen as benefiting
from an influx of HNW individuals leaving countries such as the
UK.
Last week, in a vote of 17 to eight, a parliamentary committee
dealing with tax and economic issues proposed to not follow up on
a parliamentary initiative to levy such a tax on inheritances
worth several million francs.
Most lawmakers thought that “any infringement of the fiscal
sovereignty of the cantons must be avoided as well as the
economic double taxation that would result from the combination
of a federal inheritance tax with taxes on existing wealth,” a
statement has said.
Such a move could encourage wealthy people to take their wealth
abroad, and damage the ability of family businesses to handle
succession, it said.
A statement from the committee added the following caveat: “On
the other hand, the majority of the committee believes that an
overview of the AHV is necessary before a new method of financing
this pension institution can be considered. The minority sees the
federal inheritance tax within the meaning of the initiative as a
contribution to intergenerational equality and sees it as a means
of helping to finance the increased needs of the AHV.”
In a separate vote, lawmakers decided 16 to nine not to follow an
initiative on an automatic exchange of information on financial
accounts within Switzerland, as is already the case abroad. The
initiative wanted to end this secrecy to fight tax evasion and
forgery.
The vote was designed to “preserve financial privacy”.
The parliamentary committee “considers that citizens are
generally trustworthy. According to the majority, an automatic
exchange of information would create disproportionate costs,
given that the tax authorities already have the necessary
instruments to detect tax evasion and forgery.”