The case

Juso wants to tax the super-rich: According to the Juso, it has collected over 130,000 signatures for its Initiative.

The initiative calls for an inheritance tax of 50 per cent on assets above the tax-free threshold of CHF 50 million. The initiative stipulates that the additional tax revenue should be used to combat the climate crisis. It is not possible to define exactly how many people would be affected. The statistics for 2020 only show that there are around 20,000 taxpayers with net assets of over CHF 10 million. Data by age group is not available. The Juso expects 2,000 people to be affected each year and annual revenue of around CHF 6 billion – two thirds of which will go to the federal government and the rest to the cantons. In response to an enquiry, the Department of Finance stated that the Juso’s estimate “cannot be ruled out” based on the information available.

Source: Swiss Press today

The commentary

The initiative is likely to cause a stir among legal experts. Andrea Opel, Professor of Tax Law at the University of Lucerne, concludes that the initiative conflicts with various provisions of the Federal Constitution: According to the Federal Constitution, all persons should be taxed according to the same legal rules. The initiative, however, wants to impose the costs of tackling the climate crisis on a select group of people (Tagesanzeiger)

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