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I have to say, I visited Zurich once, and everything was clean, organized, civilized, and pretty. Friends told me taxes are high but you get great education, gr

• teekert 6mo ago
  FWIW Zurich feels like that to me too, and I'm from the Netherlands :)
• amunozo 6mo ago
  Well, Zurich is everything but representative of Europe. Switzerland has much lower taxes and higher salaries than the rest of Europe.
  • gamblor956 6mo ago
    Switzerland has about the same taxes as most of Europe, but the taxes are spread between federal, cantonal, and municipal taxes. The combined marginal rate in Switzerland can reach 45%. Switzerland also has a wealth tax. TLDR: Switzerland is not the low-tax fantasy wonderland many people believe it to be.
    • vintermann 6mo ago
      Ok, but then why are Scandinavian billionaires emigrating to Switzerland? Personal wealth above ca. $215000 (with primary residence counted at 25% of its market value, and debt subtracted) is taxed at 1% in Norway, rising to 1.1% above $2.2 million. Presumably whatever wealth tax Switzerland has is lower than that?
      • disgruntledphd2 6mo ago
        I believe that there are some Swiss regional authorities (called cantons, I believe) that have lower taxes. This may be where people are moving to.
      • gamblor956 6mo ago
        Theoretically, Switzerland allows for foreigners immigrating to the country a one-time opportunity to negotiate long-term favorable tax deals to lower their tax rates. This is only available to non-Swiss foreigners with significant assets moving to Switzerland, because their assets become subject to the Swiss wealth tax. But despite what they said to the media, they weren't moving because of the wealth taxes. If they were moving because of the Scandinavian wealth taxes, they would have moved to the U.K. or the U.S., which don't have wealth taxes at all. Instead, they moved to another country with a wealth tax and a relatively high income tax. So clearly it was never about the taxes. It was either politics, or they just liked Switzerland better. When you're super rich, Switzerland is a much nicer place to live than Norway or Sweden.
    • amunozo 6mo ago
      Switzerland can reach 45% with huge salaries. Spain, for example, reaches 45% from 60k€ a year. Switzerland is much more progressive and salaries are definitely much higher than in most of Europe.
• gizmondo 6mo ago
  Switzerland is the closest you can get to USA without leaving Europe. Taxes in Zurich are lower than in the Bay Area, at will employment, healthcare that is primarily funded by flat fees rather than income tax, etc. Even the constitution was originally inspired by the American one.
• throwaway894345 6mo ago
  Yeah, as an American, I think the thing that breaks the American brain is that you can have taxes that don’t just line the pockets of billionaires—that you can pay taxes and get high quality services as a result. There are so many conservative and libertarian Americans who think that taxes are necessarily squandered while they simultaneously elect politicians who insist on squandering taxes so they can prove that taxes will be squandered.