The SPD plans to place strong emphasis on negotiations with the Union over a wealth tax and a higher inheritance tax once the parliamentary summer break ends. Secretary General Tim Klüssendorf told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung in its weekend edition that "changes are absolutely necessary" on this front. East Germany Commissioner Elisabeth Kaiser also pledged that the SPD would strongly advocate for an inheritance tax.
Klüssendorf criticized what he called "misguided tax policy" over recent decades. "That is why we urgently need changes to inheritance and gift tax, as well as the activation of the wealth tax," he said. According to Klüssendorf, the SPD will turn this into its "key issue" before the end of the year.
Klüssendorf pointed to a growing concentration of wealth in Germany, particularly evident in real estate and business ownership. "As a result, profits are also ending up in the hands of fewer and fewer people," he said. Referring to an upcoming ruling from the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on inheritance tax, expected by the end of the year, he said that at the latest by then, the Union would also have to admit "that we need to intervene."
On the possible scale of a wealth tax, Klüssendorf told the NOZ: "If we base this on the internationally discussed tax on the wealthy, it would amount to one percent annually on assets above 100 million euros." He calculated that this alone would generate double-digit billions in revenue. "That would immediately help states and municipalities, who are constitutionally entitled to this money, fulfill their responsibilities," he said.
Kaiser told the news portal t-online that it "cannot be that wealthy people in Germany exploit loopholes in inheritance tax and ultimately pay almost nothing." She called this "unjust." Asked why such a reform was absent from the government's recently adopted package, she said the legislative term has not even reached its midpoint yet, "the current reform decisions are, after all, only a beginning."
Kaiser also pointed to the pending ruling from the Federal Constitutional Court on inheritance tax. "We will need to examine that very closely once it comes," she said. What remains certain, she added, is that she personally supports reform, "and so does my party."
Left Party finance policy spokesman Christian Görke welcomed the fact that the SPD wants to make inheritance tax and the reactivation of the wealth tax a "key political issue within the coalition." However, he said on Saturday, "once again, not much should be expected."
Görke noted that the SPD has not put forward specific tax rates for the inheritance tax, and that under its wealth tax proposal, taxation would only begin on assets above 100 million euros. He described this as a "pure diversionary tactic."
Germany has not actually levied a wealth tax since 1997. The Left Party supports a wealth tax that would include a personal tax-free allowance of one million euros, plus an additional five million euros for business assets. Under its proposal, wealth exceeding these thresholds would be taxed starting at one percent, rising progressively to as much as five percent.
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