ThoseExil fiscal
Renaud de Planta’s tax exile shakes Geneva and its financial center
The departure of the private banker to Italy arouses strong reactions, in financial circles as among the population.
The announcement of the departure in Italy of Renaud de Planta, former partner of Banque Pictet, aroused hundreds of comments.
Yvon Baumann
The revelation of Renaud de Planta’s departure for Italy sparked an unprecedented wave of reactions. In a few hours, nearly 700 comments were published under the article by our editorial staff.
The debate is lively. Part of our readers are surprised by the choice of tax exile of a former Pictet bank partner, after a career built in Geneva. Others believe on the contrary that the decision of this figure of Geneva capitalism is understandable and see an alert in the face of the local tax burden.
As a reminder, Renaud de Planta decided to benefit from a provision introduced in Italy in 2017. The tax package allows new wealthy residents to benefit from a lump sum tax of 200,000 euros per year on their foreign income.
This regime can extend to family members for an additional 25,000 euros. It is also accessible to Italian citizens, provided that you have not resided in the country nine of the last ten years.
Palpable embarrassment in finance in Geneva
An analysis of a private bank, which we were able to consult, describes the offer as “a strategic alternative to Swiss package diets”. Above all, it represents a possibility for the rich Swiss who cannot benefit from Swiss tax packages, reserved for foreigners.
Behind the almost generalized silence, the embarrassment is palpable in Geneva finance, where the news sowed the trouble. Everyone has their opinion, but in an environment that cherishes discretion, the majority of people who are expressed do so on condition of anonymity.
“It made everyone uncomfortable,” said a banker. “It is a penknife in the model we sell to our customers: stability, reliability, reasonable taxation.” In other words, this departure is a bad advertising. Another Geneva banker evokes an “image problem” which contrasts with the discourse of responsibility claimed by the local economic elite.
Domino effect and departure from other taxpayers to Italy?
Some fear a domino effect. Since the announcement of the departure of Renaud de Planta, rumors have been circulating on the departure of other rich Geneva taxpayers to Italy or other fiscally attractive destinations.
An important economic actor tries to put words on the emotion created by the news: “Why does Renaud de Planta’s departure shock?” Because the Bank Pictet made Geneva. It is a name that counts in the canton and whose DNA is to defend the interests of Geneva. Its wealth was built thanks to this territory. This departure can therefore be perceived as an abandonment. ” He calls bankers tempted by exile “to explain”, because their silence “creates discomfort”.
Note that Renaud de Planta sits on the Banque Banque de la Banque Nationale Switzerland (BNS), where he was appointed by the Federal Council. Contacted, the BNS does not comment, but refers to article 40 of the National Bank Act, which does not impose any requirement for residence in Switzerland.
The case of Renaud de Planta is all the more striking that he was one of the craftsmen of the Foundation for the attractiveness of the Canton of Geneva (Flag), which he left last May. Its director, Karine Curti, specifies that he was replaced by Rémy Best, “a figure recognized in Geneva, in particular for her cultural and humanitarian commitment” and whose “appointment makes it possible to ensure the continuity of the representation of the Pictet bank”.
If it does not comment on the personal choices of one of its former members, Flag is concerned about the increasing tax instability signals in Geneva. The multiplication of political initiatives, combined with taxation deemed dissuasive, would threaten the attractiveness of the canton in the face of increasingly aggressive international competition.
An opinion shared by the Federation of Roman companies (Iron). “A tiny part of Geneva taxpayers pays the majority of income tax,” worries the director, Arnaud Bürgin. We must hold them, not make them flee in Zug, Schwytz or abroad. Portugal and Italy are serious competitors, not to mention Dubai or Singapore, which sends missions twice a year to Geneva to canvass companies. ”
Certainly, Geneva can count on “other assets: a diversified and qualified workforce, its situation at the heart of Europe, its political stability, but alas, Geneva and Vaud are the cantons in which we pay the most taxes. It is normal for fortunes to think of going to see elsewhere. ”
Contacted, the Geneva tax administration does not communicate any figures on possible movements of wealthy taxpayers to Italy. The Geneva Place Financial Foundation remains silent. As for the Swiss association of private bankers, it has not yet responded to our request.
The reaction of a Lombard Odier partner in Geneva
Managing partner of the Lombard Odier group, Frédéric Rochat does not decide on the departure of Renaud de Planta. But he sees it as an opportunity to question “the framework conditions that determine the ability of the canton to keep its entrepreneurs, active or retired”.
For him, the real subject is not only the taxation of large fortunes, but also that of the upper middle class: “In Geneva, a family with cumulative income of 300,000 francs per year can undergo a global puncture greater than 60%.”
“What applies to the middle classes also applies to large fortunes, except that the latter are, by definition, more mobile”, analyzes Frédéric Rochat, who recalls that these profiles are very courted by destinations like Monaco, Portugal, Italy, Greece or Dubai.
According to him, the risk of an increased tax exile is not a theoretical threat: “We are often told that we are crying in the wolf, but today, we have proof: departures, there are.” Political uncertainties also nourish concern: “The simple existence of the socialist youth initiative on successions creates instability. It may be enough to relaunch the starting reflections in many families. ”
For Frédéric Rochat, it must reopen a substantive debate: “If this departure can have a use, it is this: putting the tax competitiveness from Geneva on the table.”
“Indecent” for the left, “problematic” for the center, “not amoral” for the PLR
In the political environment, languages are delighted. If the left is scandalized, unsurprisingly, the right warns against the possibility of other departures.
Pour Thomas WengerMP and President of the Geneva PS, “the departure for tax optimization of a former senior partner of a large Geneva private banking is indecent and revolting. Obtaining an at the lowest tax discount is shocking when you have acquired your fortune in Geneva and advocating its attractiveness and quality of life. We will always find a place on the planet where to pay less tax, stay in Geneva where we have his links and activities and where we have made our fortune should not be a question of taxation, but a question of values, ethics and responsibility. “
In the center, the surprise is expressed with more measure. “M. de Planta has had a good career that he owes very largely to Switzerland and Geneva, notes the deputy Sébastien Desfayes. Leaving the country to take advantage of tax advantages is therefore ethically problematic. But his departure also sheds light on raw light the fragility of the Geneva fiscal pyramid and, in corollary, of the budgetary policy of the canton. ” According to the elected centrist, “it is enough that twenty large taxpayers leave so that the entire Geneva system collapses”.
What to do? “Preparing a new project mitigating the unfair taxation of the work tool, sweeping the many tax initiatives of the left and reducing expenses. No place in the world with only 530,000 inhabitants can count long -term on revenues of 11 billion. ”
In the ranks of the PLR, finally, the news does not surprise. “When someone who pays millions of taxes can increase to a package at 200,000 euros, we cannot blame him to move,” summarizes the deputy Yvan doubtwhich notes that “Switzerland is one of the last countries to maintain a wealth tax, with Norway and France (where there is only for real estate fortune)”.
According to him, “the very great fortunes have no more interest in settle in Geneva”, and the initiative of young socialists with its possible retroactive effect does not help: “As a chartered accountant, I was asked by taxpayers who ask themselves the question of leaving. And I can tell you that at least one person made this decision. ”
Same echo with Pierre Nicollierdeputy and president of the PLR: a “cantonal and federal taxation which can rise up to 71.5% of taxable income obviously has potential repercussions on the behavior of taxpayers”. The socialist youth initiative “dissuades the rich taxpayers who leave the United Kingdom to settle with us. Geneva continues to spend 7000 francs per year and per capita more than the Vaudois. It’s a laziness pillow. This money could be returned to taxpayers. ”
And to conclude: “If, overall, the number of great fortunes and high incomes increases in the canton, we must remain attentive to the evolution of framework conditions so as not to hunt them. Tax competition is not amoral. When wealthy taxpayers leave, we would better thank them for having contributed for a long time to our tax revenues rather than condemning them. ”
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