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Not of our own volition, but we were luckily forced under threat of sanctions by the USA and EU to accept the OECD standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA). So now there is some form of automatic information flow to other countries tax authorities. But I don't understand the workings in detail.

Here's an article from that time (2016) that gives a good overview, but you'll have to use machine translation, as the english version of the article is way shorter and less informative: https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/politik/automatischer-informationsaustausch-in-steuerfragen_die-schweiz-begraebt-das-bankgeheimnis-auch-fuer-eu-buerger/42194104

The country? No. But remember we've always been (majority) governed by parties that are right-wing corporate lackeys. There's a lot of criticism of these practices from the left and even the center (sometimes), but those critics are unable to get majorities.

Surprisingly, it's Bulgarian.

It belongs to the Ibex

source: am Swiss and also did a partial climb of the mont Blanc in my youth

Because it made us wealthy? And because Switzerland has strong social security and failing in that free market is unpleasent but you will not go bankrupt or become homless.

That is ignoring the environmental destruction and what it does to other countries but for us the free market together with social policies worked wonders and people are keen to keep that alive.

As someone already commented, there is narrative that the free market is the reason for Switzerland's success. A narrative pushed by corporate media and burguois politicians of course, but imo also not completely untrue.

But I also want to point to a different reason, which is our value system. Due to historical reasons, similar to the US, there is a strong emphasis on personal freedom, usually overshadowing solidarity and equality. A big part of that is for many people the right to own private property and to play as little taxes on it as possible.

Then there's also protentatisms ideas about work etc.

Because they profit, a lot.

How do you feel about Switzerland's semi direct democracy governance?

Now I'm not sure which part you mean, the direct voting or our parliament / government? In short, I think the biggest flaw which is directly a part of the system is our Ständerat and Ständemehr, which is basically like the US Senate, where the voice of a person from Uri counts 500 times as much as the voice of someone from Zurich.

Then there are the problems outside of it, where I'd say the biggest one is Corporate money influencing voting and elections.

And while sometimes misused, I still like our direct voting on issues. In the past 10 years we (from the left) were able to prevent multiple things decided by the parliament thanks to this system and even succeeded in winning a proposal to raise pensions for poorer people, which (winning a equality issue proposal) has never happened before in Swiss history.

How are your gun laws structured? Could you briefly describe the purchasing process? Do private citizens have to store their firearms in a centralized location or can they keep them secured at home?

As a Swiss citizen, owning a gun is pretty easy. I'm not an expert and don't own one, but afaik to buy a gun, one needs to do a background check and have some basic training with it. You can keep your gun at home, but carrying (hidden or open) is only allowed in exceptional cases, e.g. for professional reasons, and must be allowed in a court decision.

I hope these answers cover it more or less, feel free to ask more :-)

Good lord Silberschmidt is probably one of my most hated persons in Swiss politics.

Doesn’t this incentivize the state causing more death and individuals not wanting to improve their property/business if they can’t choose who gets it after they pass?

That would destroy a lot of family business like farms.

It really is, the best kind of inheritance tax is a progressive one that is zero until a person inherits the equivalent of a median apartment.

This tax is politically tricky though because it's an emotionally charged topic that is easy to get people riled up. Think "Labor is taxed, financial gains are taxed, gas is taxed, products are taxed, retirement income is taxed and death is taxed also?" vibes.

There is also a question of farmers since you need a farm of a certain size to be competitive and that's usually land that's worth a lot of money. It'll basically make it impossible to transition individual farmers between generations since they're always just barely getting by and surely not going to be able to afford the tax.

The Brits added an exemption for farmland and the rich use it as a loophole now.

I say fuck it, redistribution once per generation is really good for the economy.

There is zero taxation on Inheritance in certain cantons. Or am I misunderstanding your question?

alot of people on here have very itchy trigger fingers....i expect this website right now is on alot of watchlists.