Cantons May Relinquish Power Over Inheritance, Gift Taxes
Katja Krech
October 2011
Katja Krech, Tax Notes Int’l, October 3, 2011, p. 37
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Switzerland’s Christian and socialist parties are leading a push for a constitutional amendment that would transfer legislative power in inheritance and gift tax matters from the cantonal level to the federal level to better finance old-age and survivors’ insurance.
Currently, Switzerland’s 26 cantons have the exclusive power to levy inheritance and gift taxes. There are 25 different inheritance or estate tax regimes and 24 different gift tax regimes under the cantonal system. (In general, gifts are subject to the same tax treatment as inheritances.) (...)
