🇳🇴 82 of Norway's richest left to escape its wealth tax.

XJune 17, 2026

82 of Norway's richest left to escape its wealth tax. Most of them moved to Switzerland. Which taxes wealth too. In 2022 and 2023, 82 of Norway's wealthy emigrated, 34 in 2023 alone, and more than 70 went to Switzerland, reported by Fortune on Finance Ministry and Dagens Naeringsliv figures. The wealth tax was one piece of a heavier package, dividends and a tightened exit tax included. Still, the mere existence of a wealth tax was not what they fled. They ran into another one. Norway today charges 1 percent on net wealth above about 1.9m kroner (~172k EUR, ~200k USD), and 1.1 percent above 21.5m kroner (~1.95m EUR, ~2.26m USD). Worldwide assets. No income-based ceiling. Switzerland has no federal wealth tax, just cantonal rates of roughly 0.1 to 0.9 percent. And in Geneva and Vaud, cantonal and communal income plus wealth tax cannot exceed about 60 percent of taxable income, with a deemed-return floor in Geneva. The cap matters more than the rate. A wealth tax with no ceiling can bill you for more than your assets earned that year, so in a flat year you sell to cover it. Norway just added a three-year deferral for business owners short on cash, an implicit nod to that squeeze. Switzerland also offers eligible non-working foreigners a lump-sum regime, a separate route that does not always stack with the cap. Zoom out. In 1990, 12 OECD countries taxed net wealth. France dropped its broad version in 2018. In Europe the comprehensive version now comes down to Norway, Spain and Switzerland. The one that kept it and still pulls in capital pairs it with low rates, cantonal competition, no tax on most private capital gains, and a cap. So for illiquid wealth, "does it have a wealth tax" is the wrong question. Rate, base, and whether there is a ceiling decide whether it is livable. A wealth tax with no income cap taxes what you own, not what you earned. Defensible design, or slow confiscation? Tell me where I am wrong. Data from GeoCompass, the jurisdiction intelligence layer I build at Lucky Nomads.

FranceNorwaySpain Switzerland