No exceptions for the rich: 50 SPD members of the Bundestag are calling for a higher tax rate for larger inheritances. This already applies on paper – but in reality it is very different.
MPs from the SPD parliamentary group are committed to a significantly stricter inheritance tax in Germany. Exceptions and privileges for the “super-rich” must be abolished, demands the Network Berlin group of deputies in an impulse paper available to the German Press Agency. The “Spiegel” had previously reported on the advance. Instead, there should be a progressive tax, in which a higher tax rate actually applies to larger inheritances than to small ones.
On paper, there is already a progressive tax rate in Germany, said MP Armand Zorn. De facto, however, particularly wealthy people currently pay hardly any inheritance tax due to many exceptions. Around 400 billion euros are inherited every year, but the state collects less than ten billion in inheritance taxes. “We want a fairer and progressive inheritance tax that actually works,” said Zorn.
The so-called networkers, to which 50 SPD members of the Bundestag belong, also call for action on the problem of highly indebted municipalities. It was agreed in the coalition agreement that municipalities would be relieved of high old debts. “Given the urgency, a solution is needed by the end of 2023,” the paper says.
Source: Stern
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