Swiss reject inheritance tax on ultra-wealthy; female military service

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Swiss voters have rejected a tax on ultra wealthy residents and turned down a proposal to extend mandatory military service to women, initial poll results showed Sunday.

Nearly 85% of voters rejected military or civic service for females, and 79% voted against a 50% inheritance tax for the most wealthy Swiss.

The inheritance tax would have imposed the levy on individuals receiving a tax-free amount of 50 million Swiss Francs, or just over $62 million. The proposal, made by the youth wing of the leftist Social Democrats, would have directed the funds toward the nation's climate change mitigation efforts.

The inheritance tax would have affected about 2,500 hundred Swiss, or about 0.03% of the population.

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The mandatory military proposal, called "For a committed Switzerland," would have extended compulsory military or civilian service to women. It already applies to Swiss men.

It would have expanded forms of service to include causes that benefit society, including environmental protection, helping vulnerable citizens and aiding in disaster prevention efforts.

The Geneva-based servicecitoyen.ch proposed the service initiative, ans was backed by a petition with 107,613 signatures. It had the support of the Liberal Greens, the Evangelical Party, the Pirate Party and the youth wing of the Center Party.

Polling ten days prior to the election predicted broad based opposition to both measures. Critics of the inheritance tax warned that passing it could lead to an exodus of wealthy people from the country and cause irreparable economic harm, and that any proceeds generated by the tax would not make up for the lack of spending by the people affected if they left.