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A Swiss tourist criticized Australian taxes for being too high and spending too much money on public administration and government.
The traveling retiree, identified only as ‘Rudolf’, launched his criticism after being approached by TikTok vox-popper Jasky Singh at Murray Street Mall in Perth’s CBD.
He said despite being rich in natural resources, with almost double the GDP of their home country, Australians still pay more taxes for fewer benefits.
While it varies between each Swiss canton, the average Swiss worker paid around 18 per cent in income tax in 2022, compared to the Australian average of 26.9 per cent.
Rudolf said the Swiss government does more with the lower tax figure because it does not have a “burgeoning bureaucracy.”
Rudolf (pictured), a Swiss retiree holidaying in Australia, has taken aim at Australian governments for their high tax rates despite being a “rich country”.
Rudolf explained that the government cuts jobs that are no longer needed to help limit the amount of spending.
“Every 10 years, the government reviews how many jobs we have and how many jobs we really need; if they don’t need them, we close the department,” he said. he said in the video.
The routine cuts stem from widespread Swiss skepticism toward the government, forcing it to meet higher standards of governance or face overthrow.
“We trust them to do certain things, but we watch them,” Rudolf said.
He also noted that the Australian government should not have to tax its citizens so high as it has large industries that should reduce tax rates instead.
“Australia is a rich country, it has coal, gas, oil and wheat,” he said.
“We just have to get better management.”
The video attracted numerous comments from Australians lamenting Swiss tax rates.
‘We would do well to listen to what people in the rest of the world are doing. “It’s a revelation,” wrote one user.
“God how Australia needs this,” wrote a second.
Australians paid about nine percent more in income taxes than the Swiss in 2022, despite the European country having about half the GDP and a third of the population (file image)
Some users were quick to add that it is unfair to compare Switzerland to Australia, as it is about 186 times smaller and about a third the population.
Others claim that while the Swiss pay less taxes, the cost of goods and services is much higher.
“The end result is less money in your pocket anyway,” one posted.
While Switzerland was ranked the best country in the world in 2023, Australia was not far behind at number four.
He US News and World Report report took into account a set of 73 attributes related to categories such as entrepreneurship, heritage, quality of life and business.