Switzerland Votes on Nationwide Minimum Tax for Top Earners

[Joanne98]

Source: Bloomberg

Swiss voters will decide this weekend whether to increase taxes for the nation’s top earners, risking the country’s reputation as a low-tax refuge for well-paid and wealthy residents.

Voters will decide on Nov. 28 whether to enact minimum taxes on income and wealth. The initiative was started by the Social Democratic Party. A poll conducted among 1,207 people between Nov. 8 and Nov. 13 by gfs.bern showed that 46 percent favor the proposal, while 39 percent said they oppose it. The poll had a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

In Switzerland, 26 cantons are competing for the wealthy by offering low income-tax rates. This puts middle-income families at a disadvantage as they aren’t offered those favorable rates, the Social Democrats say. In addition, the country’s densely populated cantons such as Zurich can’t afford to offer low tax rates as they bear higher costs for infrastructure than smaller cantons such as Schwyz or Obwalden.

“The measure would curb this detrimental tax competition,” the Social Democrats said on the campaign’s website. The current system “jeopardizes national solidarity and only has a few winners: the rip-off artists and the super- rich who can relocate to where they get the best offers at any time.”



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-26/switzerland-votes-on-nationwide-minimum-tax-rate-for-top-earners-wealthy.html

[dkf]

1. Goodness they are voting to raise the rate to only 22%?

And the rich get a better rate than the middle class?

[MindandSoul]

11. With all the tax loopholes, tax shelters, and lower tax on investment earnings. . .

The very wealthy pays less tax as the middle class here also!

[LawnKorn]

2. The United States needs an minimum tax on our wealthiest individuals also

All wealthy people need to pay a minimum of income tax on all earnings over a million dollars. Every millionaire should be paying income tax no matter how many deductions they can gin up.

We need a hefty inheritance tax also. A tax of 95% for everything not family business related over 5 million would not be out of the question.

[valerief]

3. The US needs a proper voting system. Electronic voting skews votes to billionaire desires. nt

[pattmarty]

5. At this point the US needs so much "fixin" that I have no fucking idea..........

............where to even start. We need: Voting reform, Medicare for all (with NO copays), a livable minimum wage, "free" higher education or "trade" schooling, I could go on and on. We are witnessing the slow decline of the US empire and nobody wants to deal with it realistically.

[valerief]

6. The decline isn't slow enough for me. It seems to have LOTS of momentum.

[PopulistLeftist]

13. there is an option

make the USA like western europe. If you make the uSA like western europe, then we too can have real democracy and the things that go with democracy, like progressive taxation, singlepayer, worker protections and benefits.

Make the USA smaller first off. Small like western european nations. That means cutting off all funds to the federal govt and giving all funds to the states. With no money, the federal govt has no power. And then the states will be more democratic and can make themselves into western europe.

Oops! Did I say something forbidden????

[pattmarty]

19. Now, how exactly is that going to fucking realistically happen?

[OnlinePoker]

8. It has nothing to do with electronic voting

People have been saying the rich aren't paying their fair share for decades.

[pattmarty]

4. Try getting that enacted. I believe that this country is on a downward...........

..........slide and things are only going to get worse for the quickly disappearing "middle class" and the working classes and especially the poor. Remember the movie "Escape from New York"? Our bigger cities are beginning to look like that more and more. The "inner" city cut off completely from the yuppies and upper classes that still live in some, but especially the suburbs. We are truly fucked.

[AlbertCat]

12. Try getting that enacted.

Clinton had a minimum tax for Corporations, didn't he? Something like 15%? 17%? About what they pay in Europe. One of the 1st things deregulation got rid of. You will hear the corporate tax in America is too high!!!! It is higher than many.... but of course no one pays it. That's why a minimum required tax.... that is now gone.

You will also hear shit like "a small percentage of top earners pay 50% of all income taxes!!!!" To which one replies, "Yeah... well, they make like 80% of all the income, so..... what's you point?"

[PopulistLeftist]

7. Sounds great. Wish I lived there. Now how can we make the USA like switzerland

What are the characteristics of switzerland? Small, relatively homogeneous, parliamentarian. We cannot get the characteristics of western europe that we like (progressive taxation, universal healthcare, worker rights and benefits etc) unless we make the USA like those nations. Hoping to get what they have without first revamping the governmental-national political structure of America to match that of the western european nations is fruitless. You don't rent a toyota corolla if you want to pull a trailer. You rent a truck. You don't live in a federalist/strong checks and balances/separation of powers mega-nation like the USA and hope to have enough democracy to get progressive taxation, universal healthcare, worker rights and benefits etc. To do such would be like a child crying for the moon.

[harmonicon]

9. I wouldn't call a country with 4 different languages "homogenous".

As for your attempt to be an apologist for the failings of the US to provide basic human rights to its citizens, I think you've fallen flat. Why can't the US do things differently? Because it is different from other countries? Sure, we're 5 times the population of Britain, but that doesn't mean that we can't have universal healthcare. There are certainly counties 1/5 the size of Britain that do it, so it seems logical that it can scale up easily enough.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Doremus]

14. Ah, I see you substantially edited.

In your previous version you were quite clearly calling for the dissolution of the federal government.

Your new version has lots of pretty language added to that basic message.

[PopulistLeftist]

15. Let me be clear about this

I am calling for the dissolution of the federal govt. Is that clear enough for you?

[Doremus]

16. Crystal.

Which makes your choice of monikers all the more puzzling .... not.

[PopulistLeftist]

17. please explain

it is clear you have little idea what leftism really is. The rest of the western nations DO have a very good idea. ANd they agree with me...

[24601]

18. The process notwithstanding, they are considering raising the

tax on the wealthiest all the way up to 22%. That's significantly lower than the US.