Geneva voters have rejected a “solidarity” tax increase for the richest 1% living in Switzerland’s second-largest city.
The measure failed with 55.12% of people voting against, according to final government results published Sunday. The plan to temporarily lift the wealth tax to 1.5% from 1% for individuals with assets worth more than 3 million francs ($3.4 million) -— proposed by a coalition of leftist lawmakers, unions and activists during the pandemic — aimed to boost fiscal revenue.
The government of affluent Geneva had spoken out against the increase, saying tax proceeds were sufficient to deal with the social fallout from the COVID crisis.
Business groups had also warned that the city’s richest inhabitants might move to neighboring states with lower rates. This had happened in Norway, where a wealth tax increase to between 1% and 1.1% — notably lower than that proposed in Geneva — spurred millionaires to leave the country.
Cantonal wealth tax data shows that more than 19,000 of Geneva’s nearly 500,000 inhabitants reach the millionaire threshold. A smaller number, between 4,200 and 10,000, would have been affected by the proposal — roughly the top 1%.
In nationwide ballots held concurrently, the Swiss electorate is set to sign off on introducing the 15% OECD minimum tax for multinational corporations and officially setting the goal to become climate-neutral by 2050.