Is Green Party leader’s claim about Switzerland and wealth tax right?published at 12:20 GMT
12:20 GMT
Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist
In the UK, we’ve been following the Green Party’s win in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
This morning party leader Zack Polanski was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about the viability of a wealth tax.
The party’s policy is to levy a 1% tax on people’s assets over £10m or more (after subtracting any debts they might have) and 2% on their assets over £1bn.
Polanski replied: “Let’s take Switzerland for example, a place that has a wealth tax and is literally famous for having wealthy people in it.”
Image source, ADAM VAUGHAN/EPA/ShutterstockImage caption,
Green Party MP Hannah Spencer and Green Party leader Zack Polanski at the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester
Switzerland does have a wealth tax, not at a federal level but at the level of Cantons, the semi-autonomous administrative regions that make up the country.
Assets are taxed at between 0.13% and 0.86% according to PwC, external, depending on the level of wealth and where in the country you live.
All of those rates are below the Green Party’s lowest proposed rate, although the Swiss taxes sometimes apply to lower levels of wealth that the Greens are proposing.
What Polanski didn’t mention is that the overall tax burden in Switzerland is considerably lower than the UK.
Even after factoring in its wealth taxes, the overall tax burden in Switzerland came in at 28% of GDP, external in 2021, compared with around 34% in the UK – which is expected to rise to 38% in the coming years.
Other parts of the tax system in Switzerland are much more attractive for rich people, especially the low or non-existent rates of inheritance tax and capital gains tax.