They claim to tax the dead to help the living. In reality, they are preparing to make families, SMEs and farmers pay to finance an ever more voracious state. On 30 November 2025, under the guise of social justice, the Young Socialists' initiative on inheritance will target a fundamental pillar of economic freedom: the right to pass on what we have built. This vote is not a tax detail. It is a societal shift.
🇨🇭 Taxing inheritance means robbing the dead to enslave the living
On 30 November 2025, Switzerland will be asked to vote on the Young Socialists“ initiative to introduce a federal inheritance tax. Behind a veneer of ”social justice" lies in reality one of the most serious attacks ever made on private property, family inheritance and the economic independence of citizens. Souveraineté Suisse calls for a categorical NO.
Inheritance tax is based on a moral imposture: making people believe that an inherited asset is an “unfair rent”, when in fact it is the fruit of a lifetime of work, risks, renunciations, savings and investments. Every franc passed on has already been taxed several times: at source, on income, on consumption, on wealth, on earnings. Inheritance tax is nothing more than a double - or even triple - taxation, disguised as a social virtue.
In reality, this initiative is not aimed at the great globalised fortunes, offshore structures or international trusts. It will hit Family SMEs, In many cases, the heir will have to sell the business, make redundancies or sell off assets simply to pay the tax. In thousands of cases, the heir will have to sell the business, make redundancies or sell off assets simply to pay the tax. This is a economic time bomb.
But the issue goes even deeper. Inheritance is not just a transfer of money: it is a an act of intergenerational responsibility, It is the concrete link between the past, the present and the future. By taxing it, the State is sending a clear message: you never really own what you build. You are merely temporary usufructuaries in the service of the tax machine. It's a civilisational shift.
The supporters of the initiative invoke equality. In reality, they are promoting equality through impoverishment. History is clear: no country has created lasting prosperity by punishing the transfer of capital. Where inheritance tax is high, capital flees, decision-making centres leave the country, and the State, deprived of productive revenue, puts even more pressure on the middle classes.
It has to be said bluntly: this initiative is part of an ideological logic of decline, fiscal jealousy and the creeping socialisation of private wealth. Its aim is not to “correct” the system, but to deliberately unbalance by weakening the very foundations of individual responsibility.
Switzerland was built on savings, stability, inheritance, local roots, family businesses, private pension provision and legal certainty. Breaking the legacy means cutting the country's economic roots. It means replacing the freedom to transmit with permanent dependence on the redistributive State.
Finally, there is a truth that the initiative's promoters carefully conceal: inheritance tax never provides sustainable funding for social promises. It feeds the growth of the State, its administrations and its structural spending... and always calls for new taxes to fill the gaps it creates.
Conclusion
Taxing inheritances is not about making the rich pay: it is about destroying the productive class, making families weaker, weakening SMEs and subjecting citizens to an ever more voracious state. On 30 November 2025, this is not a technical vote, but a choice for society.
⮕ NO to inheritance tax.
NO to post-mortem spoliation.
NO to the trusteeship of Switzerland's heritage.
YES to the freedom to transmit. YES to economic sovereignty.
Souveraineté Suisse recommends a categorical NO.
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