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Meanwhile in Switzerland, the Young Socialists proposal to impose a 50% inheritance tax on estates above SFr 50mn (£47mn) to use funds for climate amelioration measures, was rejected in a referendum.
On one level perhaps its no surprise, but even in a country as rich as Switzerland one has wonder how many voters would actually be impacted?... which means the rich have convinced them that 'harming' ultra wealthy families is not a good idea - implied blackmail?
#inequality #Switzerland
h/t FT
The retroactive provision I think is what people didn’t like. I only skimmed the article but it never seems a good idea to make taxes retroactive
Yes, that maybe true - for many taxpayers that would be an unwelcome precedent
@ChrisMayLA6 @GhostOnTheHalfShell
The article says the retroactive provision was dropped before the vote. It focuses mainly on the competition between tax havens to attract the superwealthy - which could be a factor in Switzerland, but not larger countries.
I think there's a whole cluster of myths around the superwealthy that are widely believed among the non-wealthy, and which need to be challenged consistently by the left. For example...
'The American Dream' - that although you are not wealthy now, you can become wealthy, so wealth taxes will hit you later.
The superwealthy are 'wealth-creators' whose investments and spending create jobs, etc, and benefit everybody.
The wealthy earn their money, so it belongs to them and shouldn't be taken away.
And of course the point in the article - that taxing them will make the wealthy leave the country, or not move to it.
None of these have much truth in them, but they are not easy to challenge - largely because the real truth is complicated, and often comes out of detailed evidence rather than easy-to-communicate fairytales.
yes, which is why I used to start with the role of luck in economic life (good luck for the wealthy; bad luck for the poor) - of course people do make the best or worst of their situations, but the denial of luck, especially by the wealthy underlies much of the other issues you identify
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