Switzerland Today – vote edition
Dear Swiss Abroad,
If there’s one phrase to sum up today’s votes, it’s this: “It’s all about the money.”
Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected both proposals at the ballot box this Sunday: one to extend mandatory civic duty to all citizens, including women, and another to introduce a federal inheritance tax on the super-rich to fund climate projects. In both cases, fears of extra costs for the cantons and potential economic disruption proved decisive.
Meanwhile, if you’re a Vaud resident living abroad, you will now be able to vote for candidates in the Senate.
Here is a special voting edition of our briefing!
Resounding ‘No’: all Swiss cantons reject the two initiatives
Just over two months ago, opinion polls were relatively off the mark on the e-ID and rental tax votes. This time, while their forecasts proved right, they didn’t predict the sheer scale of the defeat. All 26 cantons voted against both proposals at the ballot box today, with 84.1% opposing the civic duty initiative and 78.3% rejecting the inheritance tax plan.
The proposal of the Young Socialists, the youth section of the left-wing Social Democrats, to impose a 50% levy on bequests above a tax-free amount of CHF50 million ($61.8 million) clearly failed to win over voters.
+ Swiss voters massively reject inheritance tax, civic duty proposals
They had argued that the super-rich, whose lifestyles leave a bigger carbon footprint than those of most citizens, should shoulder more of the cost of climate action. Their plan was to channel revenue from the inheritance tax into sustainable projects in housing, employment and public services.
StudiesExternal link show that the richest 1% of the Swiss population now account for 40% of income and wealth tax intake. And while a survey by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company, in 2023 found that four in five Swiss believe the wealth gap is too wide, that wasn’t enough to calm fears of billionaires fleeing the country.
What swung the vote was the argument from opponents that the tiny minority affected by the tax (around 0.05%) would leave Switzerland, taking their wealth and their contribution to businesses and jobs with them. There were also concerns that heirs to family firms would be forced to sell up in order to afford to pay the tax.
This is not the first time Switzerland has voted on taxing the rich: similar initiatives in 2015 and 2021 also failed. And the Alpine nation isn’t alone in debating fairer wealth distribution. My colleague Domhnall O’Sullivan explains why clamping down on the wealthy enjoys strong public support across Europe, but rarely succeeds in practice.
+ Why calls to ‘tax the rich’ are loud, popular – and rarely successful
Swiss vote to keep military service unchanged
A similarly overwhelming majority voted against a system of mandatory civic duty to be performed by all citizens, including women.
The “For a Committed Switzerland” initiative sought to replace compulsory military service with civic duty for the benefit of the community and the environment.
The initiative initially had strong support from left-leaning voters but the government and a majority of lawmakers were against it. In the end, two main elements swayed the vote: concerns of additional costs for the cantons and fears of adding an additional burden on women, who already do more unpaid work than men.
For Swiss citizens living abroad, nothing would have changed, had voters said yes to the initiative: civic duty would have remained voluntary, just as military service is now.
Swiss Abroad gain more voting rights in Vaud, while foreigners lose out
Swiss citizens from Vaud who live abroad can now vote for candidates for the Senate. They already had the right to elect members of the House of Representatives and even stand for office themselves – though in that case, they would need to return to live in the canton.
With 63.9% of voters in Vaud backing the change, there are now 14 cantons in Switzerland that grant this right. By contrast, a majority in Vaud (63.6%) rejected a proposal to allow foreign residents to take part in cantonal elections – a right they have enjoyed at municipal level since 2003 under certain conditions (living at least three years in the canton and ten years in Switzerland).
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