The irony was almost perfect: super-rich people who fled from one country for Switzerland due to tax, threatened to leave Switzerland due to tax.

“I think many will move,” said Kjartan Aas, a Norwegian millionaire who now lives in Switzerland, ahead of a referendum to impose inheritance tax on the wealthiest. Tord Kolstad, another millionaire who left Norway due to the leftwing government’s tax policies, told Bloomberg: “Even though I’m very happy in Switzerland, I would have to reconsider if this goes through.”

In the end, the crisis was averted — nearly four-fifths of Swiss voting in the referendum rejected the initiative, dashing proponents’ hopes that a close result could spur similar proposals in the low-tax Alpine country in the years ahead.