{"id":449249,"date":"2026-02-27T22:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T22:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/449249\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T22:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T22:51:11","slug":"misinformation-spreading-over-pakistan-strikes-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/449249\/","title":{"rendered":"Misinformation spreading over Pakistan strikes in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Is Green Party leader\u2019s claim about Switzerland and wealth tax right?published at 12:20 GMT<\/p>\n<p>12:20 GMT<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-5adjh7-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/72725dd0-f120-4e12-a924-37d73d721a0f.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Anthony Reuben<br \/>BBC Verify senior journalist<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In the UK, we&#8217;ve been following the Green Party\u2019s win in the Gorton and Denton by-election. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This morning party leader Zack Polanski was asked on BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme about the viability of a wealth tax. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The party\u2019s policy is to levy a 1% tax on people\u2019s assets over \u00a310m or more (after subtracting any debts they might have) and 2% on their assets over \u00a31bn. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Polanski replied: \u201cLet&#8217;s take Switzerland for example, a place that has a wealth tax and is literally famous for having wealthy people in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Green Party MP Hannah Spencer (L) and Green Party leader Zack Polanski (R) at the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/f5022580-17a0-4620-9830-b02b65845cf3.jpg.webp.webp\"  width=\"5671\" height=\"3814\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image source, ADAM VAUGHAN\/EPA\/ShutterstockImage caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Green Party MP Hannah Spencer and Green Party leader Zack Polanski at the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Assets are taxed at between 0.13% and 0.86% <a href=\"https:\/\/taxsummaries.pwc.com\/switzerland\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to PwC, external<\/a>, depending on the level of wealth and where in the country you live. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">All of those rates are below the Green Party\u2019s lowest proposed rate, although the Swiss taxes sometimes apply to lower levels of wealth that the Greens are proposing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">What Polanski didn\u2019t mention is that the overall tax burden in Switzerland is considerably lower than the UK. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Even after factoring in its wealth taxes, the overall tax burden in Switzerland came in<a href=\"https:\/\/ifs.org.uk\/taxlab\/taxlab-key-questions\/how-do-uk-tax-revenues-compare-internationally\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> at 28% of GDP, external<\/a> in 2021, compared with around 34% in the UK &#8211; which is expected to rise to 38% in the coming years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is Green Party leader\u2019s claim about Switzerland and wealth tax right?published at 12:20 GMT 12:20 GMT Anthony ReubenBBC&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-449249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}