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O. H.Partner in Crime
5 days ago
Delaying solves a problem that never arises when the threshold is set correctly.
About 90 % of Swiss companies are micro‑enterprises with fewer than 10 employees, and more than half of them have exactly one employee. Three‑quarters of all SMEs generate less than CHF 500,000. With 5–10 × EBIT, even larger SMEs are usually well below CHF 20 million.
If the initiative sets the threshold at CHF 30–50 million, in practice no SME falls below it. The forced‑sale scenario affects only a few large family businesses, not the workforce.
Companies of that size have full access to bank and investor capital. A tax liability of a few percent on a value above CHF 30 million is affordable – no special solution is needed for that.
Diversifying the shareholder base is not a disadvantage: firms with a broader shareholder base and professional management tend to perform better on average than purely family‑run ones.
That is of course true, since in the solutions (I believe) no concrete number was mentioned, it was difficult to assess the target threshold.
This year there was a proposal by Patrick Hässig (GLP) for a federal inheritance tax to finance the AHV, with an exemption of 5 million and a 0.33 % tax. That is considerably lower than your proposed 30–50 million.
This number has been swirling in my head. In that case, in my opinion, a deferral option would be needed.
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Plural • Solution #8 for Use large inheritances for redistribution and thus promote meritocracy.