SPD wants to make wealth and inheritance tax a 'key issue'

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) plans to intensify its debate with the CDU/CSU coalition partner after the summer break, focusing on increased inheritance and wealth taxes. SPD General Secretary Tim Klüssendorf declared these issues will become the party's "key theme" this year.

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Just in Germany, we have increasing concentration of wealth. This applies to real estate as well as corporate ownership. As a result, profits are ending up with fewer and fewer people.

Klüssendorf argued that Germany is experiencing growing wealth concentration, affecting real estate and corporate ownership, with profits accumulating among fewer individuals. He attributed this trend partly to misguided tax policies over past decades, emphasizing the urgent need for changes in inheritance and gift taxes, as well as the reintroduction of a wealth tax.

"We have long reached the limits with taxes on income, corporations, and consumer goods when it comes to creating more distributive justice," Klüssendorf stated. He highlighted that billionaires might consider a year with under 10% profit as poor, even if it amounts to around 100 million euros. The SPD believes that current tax structures allow large sums of wealth to be passed on tax-free during a person's lifetime through gifts.

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That is why we absolutely need changes to inheritance and gift tax, as well as the activation of the wealth tax. The SPD will make this its key theme this year.

According to estimates from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in 2021, the value of wealth transferred annually without taxation could be as high as 400 billion euros. The DIW also reported that the richest 1% of the population owns more than a third of Germany's total wealth, with the top 10% holding approximately two-thirds.

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We have long reached the limits with taxes on income, corporations, and consumer goods when it comes to creating more distributive justice. At the same time, billionaires think they are having a bad year if they make less than ten percent profit in a year, even if that still amounts to around 100 million euros.

The SPD is anticipating a pivotal ruling on inheritance tax from the Federal Constitutional Court by the end of the year. Klüssendorf expressed confidence that this decision will compel the CDU/CSU to acknowledge the necessity of intervention. He reiterated the importance of reinstating the wealth tax, asserting that current income and consumption taxes are insufficient for achieving greater distributive justice.

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At the latest with the ruling, the Union will also have to admit that we need to intervene.