Lump-sum tax
A lump-sum tax is a special way of taxation, based on a fixed amount, rather than on the real circumstance of the taxed entity.[1]
If the lump-sum tax is the same for all taxpayers, it is a poll tax.[1]
Description
It is one of the various modes used for taxation: income, things owned (property taxes), money spent (sales taxes), miscellaneous (excise taxes), etc. It is a regressive tax, such that the lower the income is, the higher the percentage of income applicable to the tax.
Switzerland
Rich foreign nationals resident in Switzerland can be taxed on a lump-sum basis if they do not work in the country.[2] This taxation is based on estimated living expenses, rather than on real income and assets.[2]
Seen as unfair, lump-sum taxation has been abolished in several cantons.[2] However, a national abolition was rejected by referendum in 2014. At the end of 2016, 5,000 people were subject to lump-sum taxation in Switzerland.[2]
Notes and references
- "Lump sum tax", Oxford Reference, Oxford University Press (page visited on 6 November 2018).
- Lump-sum taxation, fact sheet of the Federal Department of Finance, November 2017 (page visited on 6 November 2018).
- J. de V. Graaf (1987, 2008). "Lump sum taxes," The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, volume 3, pages 251-252.