Voters in Switzerland, the home of art world mainstays Art Basel and Hauser & Wirth, emphatically voted down a new inheritance tax on Sunday, with 78 percent voting no.
The proposed tax, which came from the country’s left-wing Social Democrats party, would have taxed all inheritances and gifts of more than 50 million Swiss Francs, or about $62.3 million, at a rate of 50 percent.
Ahead of the vote, Swiss billionaire Peter Spuhler told Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger that his family would struggle to pay an inheritance tax as their wealth is tied up in several companies, including train manufacturer Stadler Rail, which he founded. Spuhler threatened to leave the country if the tax passed.
In a recent CNBC piece, multiple experts and figures in Swiss wealth management warned that other ultra-wealthy people would also leave the country, with Swiss economist Stefan Legge describing such people as “like queens on a chessboard”—in other words, “very mobile.”
“They have tons of options to optimize their taxes,” he said.
Geneva is home to one of the world’s oldest and largest freeports, storage facilities not subject to customs laws. That, combined with the presence of Art Basel and Hauser & Wirth and favorable tax laws for the ultra-wealthy, make it an attractive place for art collectors to reside, or at least park some of their wealth.
The country has nearly 10 billionaires per 1 million inhabitants, one of the highest such rates in the world, according to a UBS report. And there are currently over a dozen figures currently listed on ARTnews‘s Top 200 Collectors list based in or with residences in Switzerland, including the Niarchos family, Augusto Perfetti, Maja Oeri, and Ryan Zurrer, among others.
At least for now, they can rest easy. There’s no inheritance tax coming from them.
